Catcher
by phoenix catcher
Summary: Discontinued. No pairings. Harry accepts an invitation to an elite Order that polices many worlds including Earth. However events move fast as soon Harry is forced into a six way war against old and new more powerful enemies and even himself.
1. Double Notification

Catcher  
  
Disclaimer; I own absolutely nothing that you have heard of from the five books by J.K. Rowling and anything that is from other stories that I copied without realising it. Other then that the ideas are just my imagination causing problems.  
  
A/N; I know this is short but I wanted to keep it short and to the point the other chapters will hopefully be a bit longer but I am new to writing, so I would love any reviews, good or bad, constructive criticisms is more then welcome. Please enjoy and tell me what you think. I don't like cliffhanger that much, but may put some in, some may be there if it is an easy place to finished the chapter and my apologies to those who hate cliff hangers but never mind.you'll live. Anyway "On with the show!" (Oh dear)  
  
Chapter 1; Double notification  
  
The summer after Harry Potter's fifth year at Hogwarts was becoming rather dull. But what kept the prospect of it enjoyable to Harry was the fact that in a week, the Weasley's would be coming to pick him up and take him to Hogwarts. It had been an interesting last week that Harry couldn't help remembering.  
  
It had started the Sunday just past when he had received a letter with a clipping from the Daily Prophet. It had been an announcement that the Ministry of Magic had withdrawn Minister Fudge's right to the Position and declared a state of war in Great Briton. With it had been the letter;  
  
Dear Mr. H. Potter,  
Due to the nature of the adjoining paper excerpt, we have decided that all Hogwarts students from first to sixth years will return to Hogwarts to be placed under our protection. Seventh years will have the choice of returning or protecting themselves. Please board the Hogwarts express on platform 9 ¾ at eleven o'clock on the 1st of August. Please send a reply using the owl provided if you have any problems returning on this date.  
  
Minerva McGonagall  
  
Deputy Headmistress  
  
Ron had sent him a letter the next day saying that they would collect him on his birthday at midday and would stay in London till they caught the train.  
  
So Harry waited in anticipation for his birthday and his trip into London with his substitute family.  
  
Over the summer holiday the Dursleys had left him alone, probably owing to 'Mad Eye' Moody's warning to them at the strain station after getting off the train. To amuse himself he had studied long and hard on his textbooks from his first-year books to his new sixth-year ones. He had almost memorised every spell, fact and potion in them, but hadn't been able to practice the spells since he hadn't wanted to give Fudge any reason to suspect him.  
  
It wasn't long before the 30th of July came about and Harry had just told his uncle and aunt that he would be being picked up at noon the next day. At six he resigned to reading but having finished all the set texts he moved to a new book on special abilities that he had bought in Hogsmead at the end of his last year.  
  
He opened it to the introduction that said;  
  
"This book documents thousands of years of abilities rare and mysterious. Some have been thought long extinct for thousands of years. Be warned not all gifts are included, common gifts like 'seeing' are left out as there are numerous texts on those gifts."  
  
Harry read about lots of 'gifts,' for hours and got so engrossed in this new knowledge that the sun had long sunk below the horizon outside his window by the time he looked up at the clock to see that the it was approaching midnight.  
  
A knocking at the window caught his attention and he got up and moved to open the window. As the owl flew in Harry immediately realised the oddity of the situation, he wasn't an ungrateful person, but he knew something was wrong because on midnight on his birthday, ever since his 12th birthday he had always had numerous owls deliver him presents. This year though the presence of just one owl unnerved him slightly. He tentatively took the letter it held for him and broke the seal, which was a plain shield with crossed wand and sword. Opening the letter he started to read, his eyes became wider as he went along.  
  
Dear Mr. Potter,  
It has come to our attention in the last several years that you are the wielder of powerful magic beyond your age's normal level of magic.  
It is due to this that The Order of Zalot is willing to offer you training in areas of you choice, this we do freeing and without need for compensation. We ask only that you consider joining our cause at any point in your life.  
More information on the Order will be revealed to you if you chose to accept, we warn you however that this chance in the only one you will receive and that it extends for only the next 24 hours.  
Any sensible wizard, including you by what we know by observation, would want proof that we are not a dark organisation luring you to your demise, therefore you will note the Zalot that resides on the delivery owls back. As you will know the Zalot is a creature of the light and cannot be seen or controlled by a person that wields dark magic.  
The Zalot will remain around you for the next 24 hour or until you decide to join our order. If you chose that you are willing to train with us, if not for a prolonged duration, just touch you wand to the Zalot.  
We wish you well.  
The Maesters  
For all eternity  
  
Here followed another crest,  
  
Harry promptly let go of the letter and let it flutter to the floor at his feet before sitting on his bed. He thought it over. He had always felt left out in the war ever since his forth year and even before that, he wanted to do something, maybe the training could come in use, and the order never said that he would be tied down and that it was his choice. Then there was the problem of whether the owl was from Voldemort as a trick to kill him.  
  
"Well," he muttered to himself, "the letter answers that problem."  
  
So he scooped up the letter and re-read the section on the Zalot, and then stood to move to the owl, he gasped in shock at the Zalot sited just below the owls neck. He reached out a wary hand to it, and it looked up with its gold eyes and vanished.  
  
The creature was as small as Ron Weasley's owl Pig and had short light blue fur streaked with almost every basic colour in the spectrum, the most pronounced were the blue and red streaks. It also had a small mouth barely half the size of Harry's fingertip. It resembled a cross between an owl and a small cat, as it had a cats tail and paws. But no wings at all, which was what surprised Harry. From what he knew from classes they could fly.  
  
Harry started at this shock and jumped when the creature reappeared on his shoulder.  
  
"Surely, Voldemort wouldn't send him something that did that, or bother finding one." He thought to himself.  
  
Harry knew that they had touched on Zalots in Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid last year, the information was sketchy and they had only seen sketches of the creatures. As they were thought to be extinct, the sources they had read implied that dark magic had caused them to flee almost five thousand years ago. He also knew from classes that they didn't tolerate dark magic and couldn't be captured or controlled by any magic known. Harry didn't know anything about them, but if the creature trusted the situation enough to be present then there was no chance that Dark Magic was involved.  
  
Harry knew that he was being reckless and that Hermione would lecture him about being more careful and consulting the headmaster. However he also knew he needed to help the world and this was an opportunity to do just that. He also felt that this was a secret that he wanted to keep to himself for as long as possible. He couldn't live with himself if he turned away from this chance. So he did it, he took out his wand and held his hand up to the creature to see if it would settle on his hand. It disappeared again only to reappear on his palm half a second later.  
  
Harry touched his wand to its forehead.  
  
The room blazed with solid light, and Harry knew no more. 


	2. Giving up

Catcher  
  
Disclaimer; I own absolutely nothing that you have heard of from the five books by J.K. Rowling and anything that is from other stories that I copied without realising it. Other then that the ideas are just my imagination causing problems. I used the same disclaimer as before, cause I don't think I can come up with another readable one!  
  
A/N; This chapter is officially dedicated to my first reviewer.Yana5.round of applause please! This chapter switches viewpoint a bit, don't worry it isn't permanent! On with the show! Yeah I just finished my 4th coke bottle today!  
  
Chapter 2; Giving up  
  
Professor Albus Dumbledore sat at the front of the Great Hall with the four heads of houses that had remained with the school during the holiday.  
  
He had requested the presence of the other teachers but they had all asked to finish their holidays, preferring to spend time with their families for the time being then to be with students that they would spend the next ten months with. Sometimes he didn't blame them for it one bit, but he loved his job and wouldn't give it up for any amount of gold.  
  
The students sat in silence while the last few students took their seats. There was a notable decrease in the numbers present as the ex- seventh years had yet to be replaced by the over-excitable first years and then there was the missing new seventh years that had declined the offer to attend and preferred to stay with their families.  
  
Finally all the school was seated and Albus stood to welcome them back, however informally the school was with its lack of students.  
  
"Welcome back students, even if it was only a month ago that I saw you leave the grounds." He spoke, his voice seeming to echo over the lack of any noise, "This next month will be very informal, there will be no regular detentions and the normal house points system will be suspended until the sorting ceremony on the first of September. However another system will be installed tomorrow morning to ensure that you don't start killing each other." Scattered chuckles accompanied this, but mainly it was just for politeness.  
  
"Without further interruptions from this old man, I bid you eat and wish you a pleasant night."  
  
He clapped his hands sharply and the feast appeared on the tables.  
  
Albus grinned as the conversation turned to what he knew it would. The new system.  
  
"Albus, I meant to ask you earlier but it slipped my mind, and the amount of students here reminded me." Minerva McGonagall caught his attention as they both piled potatoes onto their respective plates, "How are we going to teach this amount of student? We can't teach them every subject."  
  
"Quite right Minerva," He raised his voice ever so slightly to catch the other professor's attention. He waited for Snape, Flitwick, and Sprout to look up and once he had their attention he spoke again. "I will expect that you will all be happy to continue teaching you own classes, and I will be asking certain students to fill in with the others," he paused for a second, "speaking of which."  
  
He stood up and the students looked at him in anticipation. He swept his eyes other the tables, noting with regret the missing figure of Harry Potter as well as the missing figures of Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. The last three's parents had request that their respective children remain at home due to a family crisis. It was apparently purely coincidental that the three families had their own 'crises' at the same time. He came out of his musings as his gaze resettled on Harry Potter's usual seat which he noted with a slight amused chuckle that Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger had left unfilled, probably in a vain hope that he would make a grand appearance at any minute.  
  
Personally he didn't hold much hope of that, almost every wizard and witche in the Order of the Phoenix were looking for him at this very moment and had been since that morning. Not one person could find anything on him apart from his magical register left at his house and then seemingly disappearing.  
  
Someone's magical register was a complex and unique pattern left after your presence even without using magic. They had hoped to be able to track it like they did when searching for new first year students, but so far it had yielded no results, apart from the revelation that Harry Potter, potentially the greatest student Albus had met had vanished into thin air.  
  
He forced himself back to reality as the faces of the students reminded him of the reason he stood up in the first place. "Could I ask that after the feast has finished, Mr. Weasley, Miss. Granger, Miss. Parkinson, Miss. Zabini, Miss. Abbot, Mr. Finch-Fletchley, Mr. Boot, and Miss. Brocklehurst remain where they are seated, I would like a quick word with you all."  
  
With that statement conversation returned to normal and it seemed that the other teachers were content to wait, or at least they decided to shut up until after the feast to find out what he would say to the students he had named.  
  
The feast finished quite quickly after that and Albus dismissed the weary students. When they had left he motioned to the remaining eight sixth year students to come up to the table as he stood and the other four followed suit.  
  
"I have asked you to stay," he started when they were assembled, "because I have a request of you, as you can see because of the holidays, we are short of teachers." He paused while they nodded. "I have decided to carry on teaching only Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology." He motioned at the four teachers as he said their respective subjects. "History of magic will be taught by Professor Binns as usual, and Defense against the Dark Arts will be taught by you eight." He paused to look in amusement at their astonished faces. "You will pair up and teach your own house's second, third, forth and fifth years. What you teach is up to you, and the lessons will be put on your timetable, so you needn't worry that you will miss out on any normal lessons."  
  
"But Professor, wouldn't it be better to leave the teaching up to the seventh years," Hermione piped up, looking nervous but eager at the prospect of teaching.  
  
"I have chosen it this way so that the seventh years can work on their NEWT's without interference," Albus replied, he had been expecting that particular question from Miss. Granger. "Now if there is nothing else I bid you all good night."  
  
It was more of an order then anything else and six of the eight left, leaving the two Gryffindors behind.  
  
"Sir," Ron started, and Albus' twinkle left his eye, knowing what he was about to ask, "has there been any news on Harry."  
  
"I am afraid not Mr. Weasley, please don't worry, I will inform you as any information is found on his whereabouts, I assure you." They looked happier at this, but were still unnerved by their best friends absence, "Why don't you go back to your common room and work out between the two of you what you are going to teach the rest of the students this week?"  
  
They left without anymore than a muttered thanks to the headmaster and a nod towards their head of house who was looking at them with sympathy.  
  
* * *  
  
Albus Dumbledore was standing looking out of the window in his office, trying to work out where his young student was. He ran through the facts again in his mind. That morning the Weasleys had dropped in at Privet Drive to pick up Harry. When they arrived they had found that Harry wasn't there, there was no sign that a Wizard had ever lived there.  
  
Arthur Weasley had immediately Apparated to The Order of the Phoenix's Headquarters and had caught Albus there just before he left to go on to Hogwarts. Albus himself as well as Tonks, Moody and Snape had arrived at Privet Drive only twenty minutes after the Weasleys had first arrived there.  
  
They of course found no solid evidence but Albus was able to read the magical register that was unique to Harry and had discovered that Harry had simply stood up from his bed, walked towards the desk and disappeared. Albus couldn't pick up the magic left behind by Apparition or a port key or Dark Magic for that matter so it couldn't be any of those reasons. But did find a small magical residue left behind by a magical creature but couldn't match it to anything he knew of. He was very confused.  
  
He was brought out of his memories as the fireplace blazed green and Alastor Moody and Tonks stepped out of it.  
  
"Good evening, Alastor, Tonks, please be seated." It was obvious why they were here.  
  
"Albus, we'll get right to it, it won't take long anyway." Moody started.  
  
He had obviously intended to continue but Tonks being herself jumped in, impatiently, obviously distressed at the news she had. "We found," she paused, "absolutely nothing, not a hair, not another magical residue on the entire planet."  
  
"Thanks you Tonks," Moody rolled his normal eye around in exasperation, but continued when Albus turned to him. "As far as we, or the ministry, or even Voldemort is concerned the boy is not on this planet. We went to a tracker and visited every country with her and found no trace that he was there or ever had been there. There is also no trace of the creature's register or species pattern anywhere on the planet."  
  
"So," Albus spoke, "the only way we will find him is if he comes to us."  
  
"Excatly, Albus, there is no point continuing the search. We need the Orders members elsewhere."  
  
"Ok, I agree I will call off the search and we had better all cross our fingers that Harry can either get away on his own, or return of his own choice depending on whether he chose to leave or not. Tonks," he turned to the stunned witch, "I know you want to find Harry, but there is nothing we can do, it is in his hands now. Could you please go to the Gryffindor Tower, the pass word is 'Excalibur' and inform Mr. Weasley and Miss. Granger of the news." 


	3. Initiation

Catcher  
  
Disclaimer; I own absolutely nothing that you have heard of from the five books by J.K. Rowling and anything that is from other stories that I copied without realising it. Other then that the ideas are just my imagination causing problems.  
  
A/N; This chapter pops back to Harry's point of view. And there is a cliff-hanger at the end, but you will live, I had a bad day cause I am ill, but I left the evilness till the end to be nice even though my neck is killing me. Tell me what you think of Harry's gift, I did my best to keep it original and I have never read any like it before! Review! That's an order. Kidding, enough babbling read!  
  
Chapter 3; Initiation  
  
Harry Potter came back to reality in a brightly lit room that reminded him slightly of a hospital front entrance. Though there was no receptionist and no people around. The room was a four-sided cube and as far as Harry could see there was no door and no windows. The other thing that got to Harry was that there was no light on the ceiling but the room was lit brighter then any room he had seen before. He shrugged it off by reminding himself that it was magic.  
  
"Hello," he called although he never really expected a response. "Is anyone here?"  
  
Silence greeted him, though he wasn't scared. He had put up with worse before now, either in dreams or in reality. He looked around the room in hope of something, or someone familiar. He didn't recognise anything. He started towards one of the walls, the closest one to him.  
  
He ran his hand over the wall and pulled it back as if he had been shocked by electricity. He gently placed his palm back up onto it and felt the warmth of something inside it, as though it was alive, trying to pull him into it. He applied a little pressure and his hand disappeared through the wall, he pulled it back quickly and then after making sure it was still there plunged it recklessly back through.  
  
"Ah!" He yelped. He had been looking at the point where his arm met the wall when he had felt hands grab his wrist on the over side and before he knew it, it was yanking him through.  
  
He fell through and managed not to fall on the floor. When he collected himself and took his hand away from his wand in his jeans pocket that his hand had flown to almost as soon as he had come through the wall.  
  
"Please wait here!" It was more of an order then a request and Harry looked up into the blue-grey eyes of a woman who Harry guessed was in her late thirties. But it was always difficult to guess a witch's age as they aged slower then muggles and it varied between different witches and wizards.  
  
The woman headed to a wall, which was slightly red compared to the white of the other wall.  
  
"Wait! Where am I? Who are you?" Harry called out but just got a wave from the witch as she told him to sit tight and enjoy the view.  
  
Harry was about to ask what she meant when she stepped through the wall that she was heading to and he realised what she meant. On of the walls was a red-white colour and one was pure white. He assumed that was where he had come through because the other wall, which was curved to join both other walls in a curved quarter of a circle, was a pane of glass.  
  
Walking over to it he ran a hand across it and found that it was perfect, no seams or scratches. As far as he could tell it was one sheet, twice as long as his dormitory wall back in Hogwarts.  
  
His attention was drawn to the scenery behind. All he could see at first glance was blue as far as you could see. Then he realised what he was looking at. An ocean that stretched to the horizon in front and to his sides. He couldn't see any land and he thought that he should bet that there was no land behind him either.  
  
The waves were about ten-feet high and the crests lay about twenty feet below him. He had never really been out to sea before and was amazed by the sight before him. His hand instinctively went to the glass wall, because it couldn't really be called a window, and his palm lay against the glass. Just like before in the entrance room.  
  
He started to feel the touch of the wind against the glass, as it picked up and played around the curves of the building. He felt the stray salt-water droplets as they hit the glass and relished the feel of the sea against his face. The fact that he should have been inside a building only touched at the back of his mind.  
  
He closed his eyes lazily and focused on the feeling. He opened them again and gasped at the sight in front of his eyes. He was cold, and he felt the wind tugging at his hair and clothes. He could see a structure in front of him and felt as if he knew its surfaces and the touch of the metals.  
  
He was floating about half a mile from the structure.  
  
The building was raised on massive stilts in the middle of the ocean. The rain that fell on it ran down the windows and metals that made up the structure. The three overlapping domes that made up the structure were covered in ornate patterns that captured his eyes.  
  
He came back to the room as a hand touched his shoulder.  
  
"Mr. Potter," the voice sounded only slightly concerned but sounded like it was only repeating the same thing again. Harry wondered how long he had been standing there. "You looked like you were day dreaming." That answered his question, he hadn't left. This was getting weirder all the time, he thought to himself.  
  
Harry turned and looked into the blue eyes of a tall, old man. The woman behind him was the one that had first met him and her blue-grey eyes met his momentarily as Harry caught the concern in them.  
  
"They probably think I'm mad, for ignoring them as I stared out of the window," Harry though in his mind. He decided not to mention it to them yet and find out who they were.  
  
"Who are you?" He ventured.  
  
"My name is Valice Aurta," said the man kindly as he shook Harry's hand, he motioned towards the women while stepping sideways, "This is Alandria Quintis." The woman bowed slightly to Harry which Harry returned having seen many do before in England.  
  
"What am I doing here?" He asked and was replied by being led to a sofa to sit. The two others sat in the sofa opposite him.  
  
"This might be a bit hard to understand at first Mr. Potter, but you are here because you were chosen by a Zalot. There are only a few Zalots left in this world and they all live here."  
  
"Where is here, Sir?"  
  
"Mr. Potter, please call me Valice," he responded and waited for Harry's nod before continuing, "this is the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. We are as far from land as it is possible and still be on Earth."  
  
"We are Human, Mr. Potter, just quite old. We stop aging at a point in our lives," Alandria continued, "I myself am over five hundred and Valice here is two hundred and fifty, he is the youngest member here."  
  
However shocked Harry was by their ages he shook it off. "What is this place?" He asked.  
  
Alandria answered again, "This is the domed city of Atlantis, it is over fifteen thousand years old and is the base for the Order of the Zalot. She used to reside at the bottom of the ocean but magic raised her and placed her above the water here."  
  
"Excuse me for being rude, but what does that have to do with me?"  
  
Valice answered this time, "Like I said before, you have been chosen by a Zalot to serve in the Order. As the letter said it is your choice whether you join. Your life in England wouldn't be forfeit and the people there would hardly miss you."  
  
"I want to join," Harry said with conviction. "What do I have to do?"  
  
They didn't sound surprised by this and settled to telling him all about the orders command structure and his training. He would stay there for a month as a trainee, returning to England for the start of school but would still come for training.  
  
"As it is still quite early the Maesters want us to start your initiation." Seeing Harry's look, she continued, "It is how we discover your level and gifts in magic."  
  
She sounded overjoyed by this concept. Valice explained, "She is excited because your Zalot is one of the most powerful and is the oldest here, and would only pick a truly powerful partner."  
  
"Don't hold out on that," Harry muttered to himself.  
  
"Please follow us and we will explain the procedure on the way." With that they pulled him through the wall, it felt like it was just air and by the time they walked one hundred metres down the hall Harry realised that there were no doors, just red-white walls. "The procedure is easy, Harry, all you must do is allow the crystal to take some of your blood and it will tell us what gifts you control and your level of magic."  
  
"What's a level?"  
  
"Well it is a figure that determines the bodies ability to draw on the earth's magical strength. Basically the higher the number the faster and better your control of magic." Valice explained. "Most people do not share their limits freely with others, but since we have to know yours and so do the Maesters, it won't hurt to tell you ours. Mine is a level of 870, and Alandria's is 930."  
  
They must have seen the blank look on Harry's face, "Normal muggles have a value of about 30, which is the magic that keeps someone alive, and some have a limit of 100 which is someone with a lot of luck but can't control magic. Most Wizard and Witches are around 200 to 400. I believe Merlin when he joined was about 1160. That's very high. The Maesters are so far unequaled at about 1500 but no one is certain what they are exactly. As I said before most of the member prefer to keep it secret."  
  
This was obviously why these things always exited Alandria. They arrived at the room they need and passed through the wall, into a room like the one they had just left, with the same wall of glass.  
  
Harry was shown to a desk with three seats on, he chose one and sat as the other two took the others.  
  
"Right Harry all you need to do is touch the stone with the palm of your wand hand. I warn you though, this opens you up to your gifts and can hurt at times," Valice stated, "When you are ready."  
  
Harry barely hesitated but dropped his hand onto the crystal and let the burning take over his hand.  
  
He looked over at the others who looked reassuring to him, and he slid his eyelids closed. Five seconds later the pain started, his eyes shot open and he let out a gasp as pain spread out from his head and down his neck. He met the concerned eyes of Valice and Alandria. The thought that this wasn't supposed to happen was his last thought as he slid into unconsciousness, for the second time that day.  
  
* * *  
Thanks to my two reviewers; Yana5 and Slim5 


	4. The Maesters

Catcher  
  
Disclaimer; I own absolutely nothing that you have heard of from the five books by J.K. Rowling and anything that is from other stories that I copied without realising it. Other then that the ideas are just my imagination causing problems.  
  
A/N; This chapter you get to meet the Maesters and also find out Harry's level but I was wondering about leaving that to suspend a bit longer.what do you think. Well since I am not evil I will put it in here. As Yana5 asked so nicely.  
  
Chapter 4; The Maesters  
  
"Medical Emergency in Initiation Room!" Valice Aurta's voice echoed through the Medical Wing and the medical staff snapped to attention. Everyone on base knew that they were accepting a new member today. If the emergency was in the Initiation Room then, either the kid needed medical attention or had attacked his guides. The latter being unlikely since a Zalot had chosen him.  
  
The Medical Chief and a few of his doctors ran for the Initiation Room. The chief changed into a Black Panther to cover the distance and the others ran through a green wall to appear seconds later on the heels of their chief.  
  
The scene in the room was chaos, the boy was on the floor in a position of intense pain and as the Chief looked him over he found burns on his right palm and a lightening scar on his forehead had turned a bright golden colour.  
  
"What happened here?" He directed his question to the older man in the room.  
  
"He collapsed during initiation, more then that you don't need to know." The answer came from the women.  
  
"Very well, I know you members of the Order are sensitive over this procedure so I will take him to the Medical Wing, you can join us there if you like."  
  
With that he conjured a stretcher and floated the form of Harry Potter out of the room with the other doctors leading the way. They were followed by Valice and Alandria.  
  
* * *  
  
"Welcome to the forth room of you tour Harry," the amusement behind the words caused Harry to look into the eyes of Valice and then around the white room. Harry groaned as he remembered the previous events.  
  
"I always manage to end up in a Hospital," he chuckled, then grew serious again. "What happened?"  
  
"Basically when someone touches the crystal it activates their gifts, but the energy differs depending on the gifts of the person." Alandria answered, "Apparently your gifts caused you to collapse from the sheer amount of energy put in you."  
  
"That makes sense," something caught in Harry's mind so he worded it, "What was my level?"  
  
He recognised the look between the two guides, it was uncertainty.  
  
"The crystal read your level as very high, Harry." Valice spook again.  
  
Alandria continued, "It seems that you have a level never seen here before Harry."  
  
Harry couldn't take it anymore, "What was it?"  
  
The answer was quick and stunned Harry into a long silence.  
  
"Two thousand, three hundred and fifty five."  
  
* * *  
  
Harry was just finished his lunch and a conversation about the life of Atlantians outside of the base with one of the doctors. Harry was surprised that not everyone here was a member of the Order, and that most members were fighters so the Atlantians were needed as medical support.  
  
Alandria entered the room with Valice and headed towards them, he had been in there for the night as a precaution, but now he felt bored and uncomfortable since he didn't feel worn down anymore.  
  
"The Maesters have extended their invitation for you to join them for a chat." Alandria sounded worried.  
  
Valice sensed this and filled in, "Neither of us, Harry, have ever met the Maesters."  
  
Harry hadn't been expecting that. He dropped off the bed and headed towards the bathroom to change and wash, before the three of them set off out of the door. By looking out of the windows as they passed them Harry noted that they were getting higher in the structure and further in as he saw the sides of the dome sloping down from the windows. Soon they neared the top of the dome and they halted at a golden coloured wall.  
  
Harry noted that the other two stepped back, "We were not invited Harry, they wish to speak to you, don't keep them waiting."  
  
Harry stepped up the wall and passed through it, the air was warmer inside then in the corridor and the room was darker. Harry got his bearings as he looked around.  
  
Pictures lined the wall, pictures of the dome shapes sitting on the seabed, then one of them being raised by thousands of witches and wizards. Also one that caught Harry's eye showed a great flying creature skimming through the tops of the waves.  
  
His attention was attracted to four seats at the end of the room. He slowly walked towards them taking note of the frail shapes of the figures there. They looked old, beyond old.  
  
"Good afternoon, Mr. Potter." Said the furthest right figure.  
  
"We would stand to greet you but we no longer have the strength to do so." Said another on the left of the centre.  
  
The furthest left figure was the one to introduce them. "Mr. Potter my name is Valdice Lexter, on my left is Atlasa Doya, then Uric Den Lipstell and finally Patla Grela." Each nodded as they were introduced and smiled to their best abilities.  
  
Uric spoke for the first time, he had a German accent, but it was almost unrecognisable. "We are the four who started the Order of the Zalot fifteen thousand years ago."  
  
Harry quickly pulled up his jaw when he realised it had fallen open at this news.  
  
"As you can see we are getting old," Patla continued, "Even the Zalots immortality can only be shared for a while. In our case the immortality wore off several decades ago and we have aged since then."  
  
"But that doesn't concern you for the moment, maybe later," Atlasa mused to herself as much as to Harry, "We called you here to talk to you about your exceptionally high level of Magic control and also of the gifts you have received."  
  
"I wasn't told about my gifts, nobody told me about them." Harry spoke shakily for the first time since leaving Valice and Alandria behind on the other side of the wall.  
  
"That is because we asked them not to speak of it till we could tell you." Spoke Atlasa, "we might as well start there, the crystal uncovered many gifts, but seemed to think you were an excellent animagus. The odd thing is that the crystal can always predict the wizard or witch's true form. In your case it couldn't."  
  
She frowned and Patla continued, "That has never happened like that before, the crystal has more problems finding magical creatures because they are more within your soul. But the crystal can always work it out in the end. In your case though it couldn't. Either you have learnt to hide it, which I doubt, or it is a creature never seen before."  
  
"That is why," stated Uric, who hadn't spoken in a while, "we have chosen to start you on the path to your animagus first, your training in transformation will begin tomorrow morning."  
  
"We look forward to the result." A smile appeared on their worn faces as Patla said this.  
  
"I suppose you would get rather bored at 1500 years of age," thought Harry to himself.  
  
"Secondly, later you will learn your other gifts, like Elemental Magic, and how to be a Crysti, which is another interesting one, hasn't been seen in ten thousand years. Also wandless, martial arts, which the crystal says you have a certain ability for and among others speed fighting. It also told us that it couldn't find all of your gifts before you were knocked out. So you will have to work those out for yourself." This was all said very formally and quickly and Harry had to shut his jaw again after Valdice said it.  
  
"I am afraid we must retire now, but we will leave you in the hands of Valice and Alandria." Uric said, "We look forward to watching your progress."  
  
With that Harry bowed, took a few steps backwards and turned to the wall exit and left somewhat stunned.  
  
He almost walked into Valice in the corridor and was steered by the two down the corridor. We will show you to your room and have dinner and a chat." Valice stated and tomorrow we can reintroduce you to your Zalot and start your training."  
  
"Where are your Zalots?" Harry asked.  
  
"Ah.they tend to stay in their homes, us older ones have lost track of the normal world and rarely require the skills of a Zalot so they stay with their families, they do visit on occasion." Alandria replied as Valice had just walked through a blue wall with a gold plaque above it with 'Harry Potter' engraved in flowing writing.  
  
"Home away from home!" Alandria sung happily, Harry had to take a double take around the large room. The first room was large enough for its three sofas and dining table as well as the adjoined kitchenette and the opposite wall was glass again to show the ocean outside. Harry saw the waves had grown now to twice the height as earlier and he was lower down then before. The waves crashed against the metal five feet below his glass wall. Though no sound penetrated the wall.  
  
The room led through to a bedroom and opposite that on the remaining wall was the entrance to a study.  
  
"This is yours Harry, make it like home." Alandria sounded cheery, obviously not knowing what his actual home was like.  
  
Valice sounded more sober, "Why don't you get yourself settled, we will return in an hour and we can enjoy a relaxing dinner and drink, though you might be a tad too young."  
  
With that they left and Harry slipped onto the sofa to try to organise in his mind what had just happened.  
  
Then it hit him.  
  
He was the most powerful wizard that had ever walk in the mortal realm.  
  
* * *  
Did you like it?.review.  
  
The next chapter should be out late Sunday 19th or sometime Wednesday as I am a college student and am away for three days next week. Sorry coursework first even if this is way more fun.  
  
Thanks to Yana5 and Muhahahaha 


	5. Training and Frights

Catcher  
  
Disclaimer; I am going to stop writing this disclaimer, if I owned Harry Potter I wouldn't be writing on this site! If you need to read this disclaimer see the last chapter.  
  
A/N; I will keep this short, thanks for the reviews, hope you enjoy it. This chapter is dedicated to Remembrance Day and all that it stands for!  
  
Chapter 5; Training and Frights.  
  
"Oih, wake up Har."  
  
A pillow flew across the room from the couch and struck Valice in the face, effectively shutting him up.  
  
"Come on Harry," started Alandria, keeping an eye on the sofa cushions, one twitched and flopped over onto the floor. "Obviously not a morning person," she muttered to her partner.  
  
Harry pulled himself out of bed and disappeared into the en-suite bathroom and emerging two minutes later looking a bit more awake.  
  
"Do you always get up and five in the morning?" He asked unbelieving.  
  
"Of course, after you open up to your powers a bit more you wont need that much sleep," Valice responded, "nice work with the cushions, by the way."  
  
A look of confusion passed Harry's face and then it dawned on him as he saw the cushions that had been sitting on his sofa. "Oh god, I'm sorry, I didn't realise I actually did it."  
  
"That's all right Harry, it was a good display of semi-conscious wandless magic," he said with amusement as he banished the offending cushions back to the sofa. "Try not to in future especially if the thing that comes to your mind is the whole sofa."  
  
Alandria and Harry chuckled lightly as they headed out the door. Harry's mind was whirling, he had done wandless magic. There was no other explanation for cushions flying unaided from ten metres away on Harry's thoughts.  
  
"Just imagine," Alandria said with a mysterious smile, "what will happen once you're trained up in curses."  
  
She and Harry burst out laughing and Valice just sped up muttering about plots against him and the idea of an alarm clock. This made the other two laugh even harder earning them strange looks from the passers by.  
  
* * *  
  
"Right Harry," Valice had taken over control of the class, "normally people do this in about an hour, but you are a pain."  
  
"Hey!"  
  
".so it will take longer," he continued unperturbed, he obviously liked playing the teacher.  
  
Alandria decided on a nicer approach, "Every other time that this has been done, the person in question already knew what type of animal they were transforming into. Obviously it takes longer if they are a magical creature because you have to focus on their abilities as well as their shape, and if the person isn't familiar with the species, say if it comes from another world we protect, it takes longer."  
  
"Obviously if they are not familiar with the animal they can study them," Valice continued knowingly, "Since we don't know yours all you can do is sit the old fashioned way and 'seek' for the animal."  
  
"How do I 'seek' for it?" Harry said with emphasis on the 'seek' part.  
  
"I can't say, no one has had to do it since the crystal was created."  
  
"We may as well get started then, I can imagine we could be here for a while." Harry sighed and sat on the floor cross-legged on Valice's instructions.  
  
"Right Harry," Alandria turned serious, "it may hurt a bit first time depended on the size difference between you and the animal. Oh and also when you start to change," she ignored the "If" from Harry. "We will erect a ward around us and the walls to protect us from you as the creatures instinct will take over until you manage to control it. You will only need to do it the first time and we don't know if your animagus form is dangerous."  
  
"It's probably a bunny rabbit knowing my luck." Harry snorted.  
  
"You mean one with inch long fangs, if my luck comes into play," Valice muttered.  
  
"Anyway, you best get started. As you said we could be here for a while."  
  
* * *  
  
Hogwarts  
  
"You are all dismissed, see you later, next lesson is Friday!" Hermione's voice rose as it went on as the second years they had just finished teaching rose to pack up their books.  
  
Since the welcome feast on Saturday, Ron and Hermione had taken over teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts, as there was no teacher available for the job. They had just covered minor shielding charms and the second years had been hit by minor curses by Ron and Hermione for the last hour, like leg-locker curses.  
  
Ron and Hermione left the room two minutes later, hands held. They had sorted out their feelings for each other not long after the news of Harry's disappearance as both of the teens had been hit dramatically by the loss of their mutual friend.  
  
"Ron, do you think Harry will come back to us?"  
  
Ron recovered from the shock of the question quickly and pulled his girlfriend into a tight hug, and stole a kiss from her as they broke apart. He chuckled slightly to cover his own fears for his best friend.  
  
"Nothing can get rid of him that quickly, come on Herm lets go to the kitchens and get some food and go outside."  
  
Hermione just nodded and let her boyfriend steer her away from the corridor leading to the main hall. Neither teen wanted to put up with the looks that came their way all the time. They were beginning to understand how Harry always felt in the spotlight.  
  
"I only wish Harry was here to teach that class," Ron said laughingly, "he is way better then even you at that class and that is saying something." Hermione rolled her eyes at the compliment.  
  
* * *  
  
In the headmaster office the old figure of Albus Dumbledore paced back and forth.  
  
"Thank you, Mr. Wilton."  
  
The man turned and left without a word. The aged wizard slit open the Ministry letter.  
  
"To the Headmaster, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  
  
On this day the 4th day of August we, the Heads of Departments must ask you to inform the populace of the above institute of the Passing of the Minister of Magic, Mr. Cornelius Fudge. The late Minister was found dead in his home late on the seventh hour of the 3rd day of August. Investigations into his death are underway. What of the above details are told to the said populace is your choice.  
  
Under the laws of the Wizarding World of Great Britain we will elect a new member of this Ministry on the 10th day of this month, a week from the discovery of the passing.  
  
Yours sincerely;"  
  
Albus' eyes swept down the length of the Heads of Departments signatures. And made up his mind. He would inform the student body at the dinner that started now.  
  
* * *  
  
Silence fell over the students as the Headmaster stood behind the Head table and started to speak.  
  
"I will keep this speech short but not out of disrespect to its intention." His voice cut across the silence like a knife, "Sometime yesterday night the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge died, the details around his death are yet unknown. Due to this I am canceling all lessons today in honour of his memory."  
  
In the following silence he took in all the shocked faces but chose not to mention the most likely reason behind the deaths. Soon the room was swept by whispered conversations and the meal continued.  
  
* * *  
  
"Here's your tea Valice."  
  
Alandria passed her companion his drink as she moved her own towards her. They sat on a sofa in the corner of the Transformation training room near the door. It was now passing six hours since they had started with Harry's meditation and the boy sat still as his mind opened up, and he dived into his power.  
  
Valice set down his drink and motioned to Alandria to look at the teen on the floor five metres from them. Alandria mouth dropped open as she took in the radiance of power that flowed off of the boy.  
  
"It seems he has really opened his magic, and that could be dangerous if it is not controlled."  
  
"I agree," Alandria responded, "By the looks of it that is a lot of power, we should raise the ward incase the power reaches us."  
  
"Come now Alandria," Valice chuckled, "We are five metres from the boy, no radiance is that large."  
  
"Even so," she said as Harry's radiance doubled in size in a second, "I'm raising it now."  
  
She pulled her wand and tapped a box on the tabletop as she spoke the words, "Encasio."  
  
Even Valice was glad about his partner's decision as five minutes later the boys radiance was brushing the walls and the ward, making it glow golden with power. As he watched the power increased so the he and his friend could feel the power in their minds. The ward began to hum as the power deflected off of it.  
  
"Oh my God," Alandria yelped as she stood and walked to the ward. Valice followed her instantly and gasped at the sight. Harry had started to glow golden and red. The boy glanced over to his mentors and both of them stepped back involuntarily when they saw the bright white light from his eyes. "Have you ever seen anything like this?"  
  
"No, never," his voice was shaky. The light that shown around Harry grew till it was burning. And the two older members of the room held up their hands to shield their eyes, as a scream of pain and anguish similar to that of the pain curse reached their ears.  
  
"We have to help him!"  
  
"No, Alandria we cant do anything," he raised his wand strengthening the ward, "I can't feel his presence anymore, as far as I am aware we are the only two life forms in this room."  
  
"That's impossible, the wards stop apparition, portkeys and any other mode of transport."  
  
"I know." As he spoke the light died away and they lowered their hands and collapsed back in astonishment at the sight in front of them. Three metres away from the ward was a gigantic beast easily two thirds their height standing at over four feet from the top of its head to the floor. It was easily eight feet long if not more. Its skin was hidden behind a thin layer of white-hot flames that flickered away from it, like the flares on the sun. Its tail swished slowly as it stalked backward and forwards slowly closing the gap. Several bolts of power like lightning passed around it, sometimes passing into the flames to emerge elsewhere. It's head was that of a panther or leopard with bright white eyes and its mouth was open in a snarl showing four-inch long fangs set in its upper and lower jaw. It was a pure predator, but neither mentor had ever heard of anything like it. That was saying something as Valice was a legend and myth expert and Alandria was an expert in creatures of all the worlds.  
  
It slowly closed the gap between it and the ward as Valice and Alandria backed up to the wall. Both thought they were still safe behind the ward but neither wanted to be that close to the creature there, they could feel the white hot flames as they flew out. It, as it was clearly not Harry anymore, stopped at the ward as if sensing it, though it was meant to be untraceable to anyone but the creator. It lifted a front paw showing the cats sharp claws and ran the claws across the surface of the ward as if testing its power. The ward shone white where the claws scraped across it and the hum sounded louder then ever. The cat stepped back in what Valice hope was retreat but was proved wrong as the cat crouched and leapt forward hitting the barrier with its shoulder. The ward cracked loudly but held strong against the onslaught.  
  
A roar split the air as the giant creature opened its mouth wide in an ear-splitting testament to its power. It crouched again like before and growled in anger. Alandria and Valice both waited for the collision of cat and ward but were surprised when it braced on its hind legs and a bolt of lightning flew forwards as strong as anything seen by man and struck the ward. The resulting clash of magic and power drummed on the ward, causing the two people protected behind it to writhe on the floor as the noise of the hum burrowed in their ears down to their very soul.  
  
The roar escaped the cat again as the ward held steady and strong. The roar did not go unnoticed by the other residents of Atlanta. It froze them to the spot as the members felt the power behind the roar. Great creatures of the water that could fly leapt into the air and great and small creature that swam put distance between themselves and the sound.  
  
When the sound stopped the cat brought its nose to the ward as if smelling it, and its eyes turned to Valice and Alandria. Its eyes were swept by and strange golden light that disappeared a second later. The two members of the Order of the Zalot became frightened as they realised that the ward fell along with the light. They raised their wands as the creature prepared to jump.  
  
"Call for help." Grunted Valice as he worked to build a ward himself, the cat just removed his every attempt as he started it with the golden light in his eyes.  
  
Alandria nodded and seconds later her voice was heard throughout the centre. "Emergency in the transformation training room."  
  
The order members leapt out of the shock that they were held in since the roar and ran towards the room. Only to find the door jammed with a force that they couldn't break. They could feel the heat blistering the paintwork on the walls to either side of the door and the door-wall was starting to buckle under the heat.  
  
Valice and Alandria subjected to firing curses at the creature.  
  
"Stupefy!" Alandria started, neither wanted to hurt it as it was still Harry. The curse faded harmlessly into the creatures fired cloak.  
  
"Extrova!" The curse fired by Valice would have blown an elephant back twenty metres, the creature stepped back as it met the curse.  
  
"It's not enough, Reducto under it's feet. Now!" Yelled Alandria.  
  
"Reducto!" They cried together, the two red curse lines flew towards the creature but it jumped up and swung to the side an instant before the curse turned the floor of the room where it had been standing into dust. It landed half a second later just on their side of the crater.  
  
The cat leapt with a roar and it's cloak shimmered as it disappeared. Alandria and Valice could do nothing but wait for the impact of half a dozen claws, and more than a dozen razor sharp teeth. As the great creature got to the top of it's arc it's eyes blazed green briefly and the animal twisted in the air, to try to divert its flight. The creature hit the wall next to the two frightened people and the wall cracked and started to burn in bright flames. The creature limped back into the centre of the room before a roar flew from its mouth and it collapsed onto it's side breathing heavily.  
  
Alandria and Valice ran to Harry's side, knowing what had happened. Valice called through the door as he did so, to the waiting member who burst the door open and tried to douse the heat still coming off of it and the crumbling wall burnt to rumble by the flames in the seconds since the crash. The cat no longer was hot and Alandria plunged her hand into the flames to find them cool. She shook Harry and his eyes opened, a white light burned in his cat eyes and soon the 16-year-old teen lay in front of them out of breath.  
  
"Well that was interesting." Commented Harry with a chuckle and his teachers laughed slightly still shaking with the fear that had only just subsided.  
  
* * *  
  
"Have you thought of something to call that cat of yours, Harry?" Valice asked him over a late lunch at three.  
  
"I was think something like a 'Lepra,' it came to me once I gained control over it. I hope that doesn't happen again, however I did learn how to use some of its powers."  
  
"What? You mean it can do more?"  
  
"I think so, I am sure they will come to me after a while. So far there is the fire and heat, and how to turn it on and off so to speak." Harry spoke knowingly, "Then the lightning, which was very cool I might add." He ignored the "You mean scary," from Alandria and continued. "The invisibility was very nice, and of course the warding."  
  
"The what?" Alandria asked.  
  
"The cat knew what it was, it means that it can shut down wards, but that is what took away most of its energy. That's what allowed me to take over it."  
  
"Oh, ok then." She muttered. "So as long as we stay in your good books we'll be safe."  
  
They all laughed as the tension and fear they had all felt earlier drained out of them.  
  
"We best be on our way, we hope to get the basics of physical fighting out of the way by tonight." Valice said when he once again had control.  
  
* * *  
  
A/N; I have a task for you all, if someone thinks they can draw a picture of the 'Lepra' they can send it to me at my email address on my members page. If it holds a likeness I can send it to any one who wants a copy. Please review  
Thanks to my sis, for her support and to Ashione, Muhahahaha, Yana5, and linky5. I will update soon, happy Bonfire night and Remembrance Day! 


	6. Warrants and Muggles

Catcher  
  
A/N; Sorry for the delay, and I promise I am trying to make the story more interesting. This chapter jumps between Hogwarts and Atlanta, as I want to keep both up to date. I will use {} brackets to show when it switches probably more to stop me getting confused.  
  
Chapter 6; Warrants and Muggles  
  
{Hogwarts}  
  
"I don't believe it, how is that possible, how could they do that to him." Hermione shrieked and it would have drawn all the attention in the Great Hall had everyone not been too engrossed in reading his or her copy of the 'Daily Prophet.'  
  
Ron, who never got the Daily Prophet, looked up from his drink of coffee, something he couldn't live without this early in the morning. "What is it, Herm?" The look on her face and the shriek that had come told him it wasn't anything good.  
  
"I can't believe it, why, what did he ever do?" She muttered to herself.  
  
"Lets have a look then Hermione!" Ron called but Hermione just gripped the paper in her hands crumpling it slightly. Ron gave up, reached to his right and grabbed the Prophet out of Neville's unsuspecting hands. He mumbled a sorry to the smaller boy but went silent and paled as he read the text.  
  
'The inquiry into the death of late Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge has stumbled across disturbing and very worrying results. This reporter feels it is his duty to inform the Magical community of Great Britain that evidence has been released to the Daily Prophet detailing Mr. Harry Potter's involvement in the death of our beloved Minister. Mr. Potter or the boy-who-lived is a sixth year student at Hogwarts and reports came in under a month ago detailing his disappearance. No trace has yet come up with results to the whereabouts of our young Hero. Evidence, seen by the Heads of Departments and myself, concludes that Mr. H Potter wasn't just involved in the murder but planned and instigated it as well. That he is no longer a hero to our great nation. It seems that since the Third task of the Tri-Wizards competition Harry Potter has been threatening the Minister of Magic with death from torture.'  
  
Ron couldn't read anymore, it was too much. For once silence covered the hall and the headmaster wasn't present to start it with a speech. Just as Ron thought this, the doors opened and the Headmaster with Professor McGonagall at his side walked into the hall, but stopped just inside the doors. Two figures walked in behind them as if for protection.  
  
"Can I please have your attention Students," he already had it but he seemed unfazed, "Please listen carefully to Mr. Sandrews." He said very tonelessly, but allowed the man to take over.  
  
"Good morning students, I am Mr. Sandrews, I am the head of the magical law enforcement department. This is General Mactos, the general of the Aurors. I have an announcement to make." He pulled out a scroll and opened it like a court announcement.  
  
"By the decree of the joint council of law, the highest ruling Ministry council and the Wizengamont, the highest league of law in times of war. Mr. Harry James Potter is hereby charged with murder and attempts to become a Dark Lord and to rule the Wizarding State of Great Britain. He is hereby punished upon his capture to death by the killing curse."  
  
Ron looked in shock at Hermione to see tears falling unchecked down her cheeks. The man continued.  
  
"By decree of the bodies above, anyone found helping Mr. Potter will be subjected to the same punishment."  
  
An outcry rose from all those present and even the headmaster was shocked. The man seemed unperturbed.  
  
"By decree of the Wizengamont martial law is in operation from the hour of six this morning, and anyone with information about the whereabouts of Mr. Potter must come forward, failure to do so will lead to the punishment above for helping him. Due to the need to capture Harry Potter his state as an underage wizard is declared null and his opponents are authorized the use of all spells including unforgivables."  
  
He took a breath and paused as Ron and Hermione paled further. He pulled out another scroll and handed it to the General. His voice was gruff but carried easily through the silence.  
  
"By decree of the Wizengamont the Magical and Non-Magical States of Great Britain are now at war. Martial law allows the killing curse as punishment for murder. Preparation for war is underway to combat the presence of a Dark Lord, whether it is Harry Potter or not. The Aurors second Division will be hereafter stationed at Hogwarts."  
  
With that Hermione collapsed onto the floor and the others around her spared a glance in her direction but were otherwise too stunned to help her.  
  
* * *  
  
{Headmaster's office}  
  
"Welcome to Hogwarts Minister Blockestina!" The headmaster smiled warmly as the new Minister stepped through his office fireplace. She took the seat that Albus motioned her to and thanked him for the welcome and expressed her delight at being back before continuing.  
  
"Professor Dumbledore, as you most likely know, this Potter situation has done something not done since before the creation of Hogwarts and the time of Merlin. The Non-magical community is being informed by their government of our presence in Britain. The Non-Magical world will once again combine with the Magical. I don't know what sort of effect this will have on the Magical world, that is why I have advised that all hidden Wizarding communities stay hidden, this includes Hogwarts, Hogsmead, and the Ministry buildings. However Diagon alleys wards against muggles will come down, so that muggles can enter it."  
  
"Is that wise?"  
  
"I don't know, however it is over my head, as is many things like the decree of execution to Mr. Potter. We will have to make do, the fact remains, Hogwarts needs protection against Potter and Voldemort as even if the councils don't believe you, I do, but that must not leave this room. I would lose my position, and I can do more help there then if Malcolm Popstry replaced me."  
  
"I understand, and I am glad for your covert help."  
  
"The councils propose the positioning of one of The British Army's regiments around Hogwarts as well as building a magically protected Air force and Army base. They will need access to see Hogwarts and Hogsmead but we will put a ward against the transfer of the knowledge of our whereabouts. Do you agree to this?"  
  
"I think it would do the children good for the protection. Especially if the war escalates and Muggle weaponry starts flying, even I cant protect myself from some of that."  
  
"It is agreed then, the work will start in a week and hopefully the personnel should be moved in by the end of the month." She smiled. "Has your work to find Potter come up with any results?"  
  
"No, not really, apart from the magical signature left at the Ministers house. It seems he has yet again disappeared."  
  
"Off the record, the ministry has had no response to tracking spells, but the councils insist that we publish reports of sightings and tracking results in order to keep the public calm."  
  
"What do you expect of the staff here if he returns?"  
  
"Is this office secure?" She waited for his nod before continuing, with a smirk she replied. "I will pretend I didn't hear that. What you do is up to you and your staff, however if his magical signature appears the Aurors will appear all over the place and try to kill him, they won't try to capture him and anyone seen helping him will also be killed. I don't like it much. The Army will also respond. Which reminds me, be sure to warn the students of the arrival of the Muggles Forces as the Air force will start fly-unders, or whatever they call them, tomorrow morning."  
  
Dumbledore took over, "I will get the Defence teacher to teach defense against muggle technology, and cross my fingers that it wont be needed as I doubt anyone will be able to defend against some of their weaponry."  
  
"I am stationing Arthur Weasley here as a go between. For you to communicate with the Muggles. I know he will love the chance to see the 'shiny toys.' I would make sure none of your students wander into the bases, it could turn very nasty, if the muggles see them as a threat." She finished as she headed to the fire once more to leave and after quick good byes she stepped in and disappeared with a green flame and a shout for the Ministry.  
  
* * *  
  
{Atlanta}  
  
"Ouch that hurt you git!"  
  
"Harry! Its supposed to, it's combat, you know, I hit you, you hit me and so on!" Valice replied with a laugh. He had just done a flip off of Harry's knee and turning it into a kick to his chin, sending Harry onto the floor behind him.  
  
Harry blurred as he ran forward and tackled his instructor. Alandria burst into laughter so hard that tears dripped down from her eyes as the shape of her partner flew across ten foot of floor and bounced as he hit the special muggle plymometric flooring.  
  
"Don't patronize me!" Harry yelled, "I'll take you both on, if you keep on like that, an win!" He said the last bit with a smirk.  
  
"I would like to see you try, young Harry!" Valice chuckled, Alandria saw the look on his face and knew it meant trouble but stepped forward at the challenge. The members of the Order never turned down a challenge no matter how subtle it was.  
  
"No magic, enhancemental, attack or defence." Alandria set up the rules, basically they wanted a completely muggle fight. "Weapons or other unnatural things. And definitely no animagi! Last one conscious or in the area wins."  
  
"Done," Harry and Valice agreed at the same time.  
  
They all settled into a fighting stance. All different. Harry, facing his teachers, went into a stance that let him move in any direction without delay, normally used when fighting multiple targets. The two teachers went into stances, obviously they made a good team, Valice took on a purely attack stance that didn't leave him much room to defend off the boy, but Alandria moved into a purely defensive stance that she would have to shift in order to attack Harry.  
  
Harry saw the quiver in Alandria's leg muscles as she braced so she could attack giving Harry a split second warning, all he needed. He had turned into a natural at this game and could pick up the smallest movement and adapt without thinking too much on it. His warning soon led him to flip backwards a couple of metres as Valice and Alandria flipped forward to stand where Harry had occupied, Valice tried a front kick and Alandria a sidekick before noticing that Harry no longer was there.  
  
"Damn!" Muttered Alandria under her breathe as she realised her mistake, being older then the others didn't make her gentler, she was faster at the game then her partner, but Harry always seemed to work out what she was doing. She like Harry had the same gift at fighting and at that moment her instincts screamed at her as Harry reversed his flipped and jumped at her, she dodged it but only through instincts, she leapt back to her starting place.  
  
Valice wasn't so fast. Harry spun to him and delivered a sidekick to his face before he noticed the boy was there. Valice retaliated with a fast jab with his left hand that flew millimetres from Harry's ear as the boy ducked in a crouch. Harry turned the crouch into a jump as he tensed the muscles in his legs. Alandria saw this but Valice was too slow and missed the tell tale signs that allowed Alandria to know what was coming next.  
  
The tornado kick to Valice's head knocked the man back many feet to his right and Harry jumped other him to get to Alandria while he stood. Alandria had a match in Harry and may punches and kicks were thrown as Valice returned to a fighting stance. Harry smirked as he felt more then saw Valice silently come from behind him. He confirmed it by looking Alandria straight in the eyes and seeing Valice's form. Harry jumped five feet straight up and did a split kick, his right heel hitting Alandria in the stomach as his left clipped Valice's chin. He landed to follow up with a 360 kick to Valice in his stunned form and another tornado kick to his chest to send him flying backward out of the ring.  
  
He turned back to Alandria. "One down one to go!"  
  
"My compliments, young man!" Alandria smiled widely, even she would enjoy this if she lost, it was only a game and she loved the thrill of it.  
  
They threw more moves at each other, slowly increasing the intensity of flips and kicks, until Harry got in a nasty punch to her left calf, followed it with a jump and a back flip off her knee and delivered a kick to her chest. He landed risking a glance at her as she recovered quicker then most. Harry did a 540 kick. He did a 360 spin brought his left leg round, his right over the top to deliver the knock out kick to her head, before spinning to land on his right foot again.  
  
"I give," she spoke as she stood from her place on the floor, then she did something she never did normally, she hugged the boy before beckoning Valice back into the ring. "What was that move, I have never seen it before?"  
  
"What the 540?"  
  
"Yeah, I am not familiar with it, I am sure Valice doesn't have a clue either."  
  
Valice nodded his agreement. "It just felt natural, so I did it," Harry replied with a smile, "It worked though didn't it?"  
  
"I'd say so."  
  
The next hour of the combat class passed quickly as Harry showed them the new move. But Harry didn't really pay attention. He was confused, he didn't know how he knew that move. Thoughts of the last two weeks of training came back to him as they walked to lunch. He had known lots of stuff on sword fighting, star throwing, and lots of other martial arts. It was as though he had the information in his memory all along.  
  
He was broken from his reverie as Alandria spoke kindly to him. "Since we don't seem to need many more lessons on muggle martial arts and fighting. We'll go over to the magic room later and play with wands."  
  
This is what he was waiting for, he knew martial arts was useful but he knew that in a proper battle, he needed magic.  
  
* * *  
  
{Hogwarts}  
  
Ron and Hermione had decided the day before that even if Tonks had told them that the order of the phoenix were stopping their search for Harry they would keep trying. They had spent the first two weeks searching the books in the library for every tracking spell they could. From tracking his soul to tracking his clothing. They had had no success whatsoever when they tried the spells. They sat together in the library trying to come up with a solution to the problem. Staring at the table they seemed to hope that the solution would present itself.  
  
"Hang on," said Hermione as something tugged on the corners of her brain, "they said that as far as they knew he was nowhere on the planet, right?"  
  
"So?" Ron replied.  
  
"I don't know, I am trying to think about it, it just refuses to go away."  
  
Ron decided to try and help by repeating the information aloud as well, "If someone's not on the planet, they're not on the planet." He said with triumph but instantly deflated as he realised that what he had said made no sense. Hermione didn't agree wit it being stupid as she flung herself across the table and caught him in a hug.  
  
"That's it!" She screamed before hushing as she got an evil glare from the library matron, "Ron that's it, he must be not on the planet."  
  
"Hermione that makes no sense, how could he not be on the planet?"  
  
"I don't know," a thoughtful expression took over her face as she thought for a while, "Ron go into the history section and grab any books that might detail other realities or worlds. Quick, I think we're onto something."  
  
With that they ran in search of the books.  
  
* * *  
  
{Atlanta}  
  
"It seems your friends are quite the clever ones," Alandria looked up from the letter that had been handed to her from a base communicator.  
  
"What do you mean?" Harry lost his smile at the mention of his friends.  
  
"We have a system here that monitors activity in the worlds that we protect. It tells us if anyone gets close to discovering us, but especially monitors friends of those initiated for signs of working out where you are." Valice explained knowing more on the subject.  
  
"It seems," continued Alandria, "that your friends, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger are the closest on Earth to discovering the inter world base."  
  
"How close?" Harry was excited by the chance of his friends working it out, as he wasn't allowed to send messages to anyone.  
  
"I believe so far they know that you are not on the planet," Alandria smiled, "I doubt they will ever work out you are in Atlanta."  
  
"Come on, its magic time." Valice chimed in and they headed from lunch to the training room once more to practice spells and see if Harry had a talent for this like everything else.  
  
After four hours the only description for Harry's ability was, unexpected. He held no real promise whatsoever and this surprised everyone. They had met up with some other members of the order, younger ones, some not more then five or six years in the order, all from other worlds that they protected. He couldn't get the idea of the training like the others. He was better then the others in his year at Hogwarts but way below what he should be by looking at his other talents. He also couldn't seem to get a response through wandless, something that the crystal had said he had a knack for, it was as if he was being locked out from his powers.  
  
After he finished he headed back to his room somewhat less cheery. With thoughts that they might kick him out of the order. It was a ridiculous thought, once you were in you were in, a lifetime contact so to speak.  
  
He cheered up as he thought of the next day, Valice had told him that they would start by researching his other abilities and try to train him in them. He had been looking forward to this for a while, especially the working on his Crysti ability that had intrigued him since the Maesters had mentioned it. So with that thought he passed into sleep, what he didn't realise was that Ron and Hermione also fell asleep on the books they were still reading. A connection was formed.  
  
* * *  
  
Another chapter and the plot moves on slowly, I think next chapter will be more interesting, we'll see. Thanks go to Harry17, Ashione and Yana5. Thanks to anyone else who has read, please leave a review even just to say you read it. If you are not registered send an email to my email address. Till next time! 


	7. Betrayal

Catcher  
  
A/N; Things are going to get interesting. That's all I have to say!  
  
Chapter 7; Betrayal  
  
{Atlanta}  
  
Harry was walking to dinner, his mind caught in a re-run of his dream last night, his dream was completely dark, but he had felt Ron and Hermione there like their very minds were with him. He could have sworn it was real. He could feel that they were desperate to find him. He could feel their despair at his disappearance. He had sent them regret, he felt safe and protected, he was happy and he hoped that they had felt it and would get on with their lives until he returned. What he didn't know was that they had also felt his pain and anger towards Voldemort and a longing to kill him. They had felt that he was in pain, was happy and wanted to kill. Not a good combination.  
  
He had felt their love for each other and he wished them well, but they didn't need to look for him, and it was futile and he hoped that if it was real the contact wouldn't count as breaking the rules and get him in trouble with his teachers and superiors. With that thought he left his current thoughts and took into account his surroundings and recognised absolutely nothing.  
  
"Damn," he muttered to himself. He was lost. He walked back the way he thought he had come but got no results, he had walked fifteen minutes in the wrong direction. He realised he was late for his meeting with Valice and Alandria in the gift training room. He had really messed up. He could call for help but he had his pride, so he walked up to the glass window to see what he could see. He leaned against it with his palms and pressed close to see outside. He just got a glimpse of the rolling docks just before the building sloped around the side out of sight. Bliss hit him as a feeling he had only twice felt came to him. The first time in the transportation room and then when he had found himself outside.  
  
He felt the wind and spray, light against the glass and as before felt a slight rush. This time he kept his eyes firmly open and could see the domes intricate patterns rush by on his right. He stopped at the docks, just where he had been looking.  
  
He took in the sight almost immediately. The great tall ships swaying slightly moored up to the wide floating walkways. Three of the most beautiful ships he had ever come across. All wooden, highly polished, with the same golden patterns swirling around the hull of the ships. Each ship had a different figurehead. One of what he assumed was a mermaid. Another of a dolphin and the last was of a great beast that he quickly realised was a sea dragon like the ones that swam or flew near the base sometimes. It's great wings curved back far around the sides. Each ship had great masts with white sails seated neatly on the yards. The smaller two with three tall masts and the larger one, the one that boasted the Sea Dragon had four great mast and was slightly longer and higher then the other two.  
  
He stared at the wooden giants in front of him. But was quickly broken out of his reverie when a shrill cry echoed from the docks. He looked at the figure that had made the noise and realised that someone had actually seen him. Without being able to control himself he floated forwards to meet the person just because he was looking at them. The woman that had seen him and the group whose attention had been drawn were all Atlantians and not members of the order. They didn't know him. They pulled out their wands and aimed at him.  
  
"Oh God," he thought when he tried to speak and discovered that he was too stunned to say anything. A curse shot towards him. Before he could do anything it hit him. Harry felt nothing, the shot went through him.  
  
He wished he were safe in the training room with his mentors and friends. He saw five curses fly towards him. He screwed his eyes up tight and waited for the inevitable. It didn't come. He cautiously opened his eyes to see two faces feet from him. He collapsed back into the chair behind him as he realised his wish was true. He was safe in the training room. Well as safe as he could be with his two friends. He saw their curious faces and fell into his day's story.  
* * *  
  
{Somewhere in Scotland}  
  
A great base lay before the hooded figure, it was hidden from normal eyes between two hills leading down to the ocean. A loch lay between the hills and the base was covered with buildings up to the water. Several black shapes sat defenseless at mooring. Powerful hunters in their own environment, under the great oceans of the world. Powerless to his attack. He could destroy the base with no damage to himself even with the many armed muggle guards that could decimate a Wizarding army and only leave torn bodies behind. Another thing made this attack better, he could feel the eyes of the Hogwarts Headmaster as the old man looked on from his office. Perfect. At least one person would know of his return.  
  
"Or should I say 'his' return!" He thought to himself, as he moved down the hill. And caught the attention of the guards. All hell broke lose.  
  
* * *  
  
{Hogwarts, Headmaster's Office}  
  
The Headmaster had called up Hermione and Ron when the charmed dish in front of him had shown that it had read Harry Potter's Magical Signature. It was their right to see this. They had flooed up to the office at his request and they watched in horror as the blacked cloaked man tore apart the muggle submarine base.  
  
Hermione lent into her boyfriend as the sound of a nuclear submarine exploding came through the dish. Albus Dumbledore quickly silenced it slightly but the sound of muggle bullets could still be heard clearly.  
  
"Who is this, Sir?" Ron asked weakly, he hadn't told them at first because he didn't want to believe it.  
  
"You have the right to know this, I believe the ministry is probably watching this also and tomorrow I will be informing the school of this and certain precautions." He paused thinking of the muggle airfield he had to tell the students about. There was no remaining twinkle in his eyes. "It's Harry!"  
  
* * *  
  
{Somewhere in Scotland}  
  
He laughed as a group of men hurled themselves out of a doorway, automatic machine guns opened up at him, and he almost saw the small metal object fly towards him. They screeched as they hit a solid shield two feet from him. The bullets flew back to the muggles, spraying the group of British Soldiers with white hot metal rounds.  
  
His eyes turned to the last of the great underwater war machines, so much power he thought. His mind lanced out to find the high explosives he knew were in the torpedoes and when he knew he had them, he thought of fire and instantly a huge roar threw most of the living compound members back as at least ten high explosive torpedoes sunk their carrier to the bottom of the loch. True devastation.  
  
A soft throbbing sound caught the man's attention and he looked up to see four shiny black aircraft, slowly moving towards him. He smirked as he recognised the helicopters. They flew at him. They had obviously chosen to take no chances. Four flashes could be seen in the light thrown from whatever lights were still working in the base. Four missiles that would be able to almost cripple Hogwarts defenses. They flew at him.  
  
The Navy Pilots, Ministry of Magic and the three seated in Hogwarts thought that this was the death of the man. They watched the slim missiles fly towards him. He reached out with his hands and blood red light glimmered around his hands. The two closest missiles glared red and twitched. The two pilots registered navigational failure on their weapons screen. The man smashed his hands together in front of his face and the two missiles changed course on command. They hit mid air, and exploded sending a shock wave across the compound, leveling the buildings under it. The last two missiles flew through the smoke and debris unaffected and continued on towards the man. Just when the onlookers thought they had him the missiles glared red again and split passing the man by mere feet throwing the man backwards twenty feet and nearly killing him with the slipstream they created. The pilots banked as they realised what had happened aided by the high pitched bleeps of their radar's warning them of the missiles.  
  
The missiles circled round and closed onto their slow moving original masters and exploded turning both helicopters into bright fireballs before they spun out of control and hit the ground. The last two war machines banked sharply and fled to tell of the tale.  
  
The onlookers, tears in their eyes turned their attention back to the man on the ground. He drew himself up to stand proudly and seemed to glance around at the devastation he had created. He threw down his hood and his laugh hit the onlookers like a blast to the heart. Especially his old friends and mentor. Harry Potter, their supposed Saviour. Then he was gone in a blaze of white fire after appearing to look at those watching him.  
  
* * *  
  
A/N; Slightly shorter this time but I have had lots of work to do at college. Everyone knows that problem. Thanks to MaidenMasherV, Ashione, and Yana5. Unfortunately for you I can't answer any of the questions in the reviews, it would spoil the fun. My fun anyway. (Evil laugh.) Just to say the Harry on Earth is Evil!! Judging what he just did, I would have to say VERY evil. Look forward to the reviews. 


	8. Order Meetings

Catcher  
  
A/N; Hopefully some explanations for some of you more curious people, unfortunately not much action but its to help the story line along.  
  
Chapter 8; Order meetings  
  
{Order of the Phoenix HQ}  
  
"Can I have quiet please, I need to get this meeting out of the way before breakfast or Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger will be missed." Dumbledore called over the chatter that filled the Order's meeting room. Albus dreaded the reason for this meeting and as it directly involved Ron and Hermione he had brought them to London.  
  
"Why did you call us here, Albus?" Snape spoke up once everyone was seated. He sneered at the two students, "and why bring them here?"  
  
"I brought them along because of something that happened this evening." The twinkle had left his eyes ever since he had witnessed the events in his office. "I am going to show you something that myself, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger witnessed earlier in my office after dinner. It has to do with Harry Potter."  
  
Several cries were heard, ranging from impossible to relief about the news. Albus held out his hand to stop the impending riot. "Just watch please." He touched his wand tip to the dish they had watched the scene in before and the image appeared on the bare wall of the room.  
  
The Order's 50 members sat in awe as they watched the man cloaked in a billowing robe make short work of the muggle defences that Voldemort would even try to attack. They could hear the explosions, screams and gunfire, they watched as the missiles took down their own masters. The old headmaster froze the image here just before the identity was discovered.  
  
He scanned the faces of the room, saw the awe struck faces of some of the more experienced members, the horrified looks of some of the newer members and finally turned to Hermione's tear covered face as Ron held her in comfort though he wore a betrayed and angry look. Mrs. Weasley took them both into a hug and comforted them all, as Molly felt as if one of her own had just betrayed them.  
  
"Albus, why make these two watch that, what does it have to do with them?" Molly Weasley sternly told the man, still shocked by what she had witnessed.  
  
It wasn't the headmaster that replied it was the youngest Weasley present. "Harry." Was the only sound out of his mouth. Everyone looked at him in shock.  
  
Snape recovered in shock. "Mr. Weasley there is no proof that Potter had anything to do with that, unless he was stupid enough to throw himself into it in a courageous attempt to get himself killed."  
  
Ron looked at the headmaster pleadingly.  
  
"Severus," he called the mans attention, he turned back to the rest of the Order, "Young mister Potter's magical signature was picked up in the area there last night."  
  
"So he was there. Trust a Potter and a Gryffindor." Snape stopped as Hermione cries increased.  
  
"Severus." Albus intervened before the Potions master could say anything else, "Please everyone look at the figure on the screen as I play the last part, it will explain it much easier and quicker."  
  
They all watched in terror as the hooded man stood from his place on the floor where he had been blown over. They watched as he glanced around at the scene. Many cried out when he drew back his hood to show the face every person in the Wizarding world knew. Harry Potter. Hermione simply collapsed and Ron struggled to hold her up when his best friend's laughter, though horribly changed, filled the room.  
  
"My God," the potions master breathed, "but Albus, it's impossible."  
  
"I am afraid not, Severus, I verified it with the Ministry before I came here, they had seen it as well, the Royal Navy has pictures of him on their security systems. There is a full hunt in every country for him. The muggle governments are putting a lot of resources towards his capture. They have mobilized all of their Special Forces, including their anti-Wizarding squads." A collective shudder greeted those words. The older members remembered the last war and fighting with the squads of Anti-Wizarding muggles that provided the muggles with a Special Force to deal with Wizarding Criminals.  
  
"Over forty million Army, Navy and Airforce personnel in Britain, France, Russia and America are involved in the search for him. He has cost the British Navy Ten Billion muggle pounds. They won't let up until he is caught." Albus paused to let this sink in, he needed them to realise that they can't help him.  
  
"He must be caught, by seeing that image I hope you understand that the Harry Potter we knew is gone. He has turned to the powers of Dark Magic. Therefore I am taking you off everything you are doing, including jobs to help in the search. The exceptions are you Severus, I need you to stay with Voldemort and find out what he knows of Mr. Potter's change. Also you Arthur, I need you to keep helping the movement of Muggle armed forces to Hogwarts especially after this incident." He finished up with a good luck and a warning, "remember he is no longer our Harry, he has turned to the Dark just like Tom Riddle did all those years ago, he wont show you mercy, do not let your feelings for the Boy-Who-Lived get into this. Many people will make that mistake and live to regret it, if they live." He muttered under his breath but in the silence everyone heard it. He look like the old man he really was, not the man that could take everything in stride like most wished he were. He could do that, but only if he was sort of expecting it. This no one could have even thought of in his or her nightmares.  
  
"Come Hermione, Ron, we must get back to Hogwarts, I need to talk to the staff before breakfast. You might want to eat in the kitchens or your common room, as I will be telling the school of Harry's switch."  
  
With that they left.  
  
* * *  
  
{Atlanta}  
  
Harry was reliving his last lesson in his dreams, he did that quite often, especially when the lessons were interesting. This had been on his Crysti ability, which was the weird thing he had done that had led him to being fifty feet above the water, a hundred feet away from the domes with curses and hexes flying at him. He had learnt that the last person that had had the ability was a man name Founler Magesta. It allowed him to pass through solid objects and transport himself using objects. Like he could travel by combining himself with the air, so he could travel around the world in a blink of an eye without much thought or power.  
  
Another interesting thing was when he discovered that he could sort of talk to the objects around him. Most didn't really talk but sort of struck thoughts from within him. With this he had worked out that he could use any object as a sort of camera, he could learn from an object what had happened around it over time. This was very tiring and he had collapsed while trying to do it, it was also very complicated as a piece of glass or a rock had been in existence in so many forms that it had thousands of 'voices' so to speak, and with no-one around to help him learn to work out the 'voices' he would have to work them out himself. The problem was that know he had used that ability he could hear a dull hum in the air around him and couldn't work out how to close of the ability to stop him from going mad.  
  
He woke abruptly when he heard the sirens and flew out of bed as the lights in the room glared brightly then dulled to an emergency red. He rushed to cloth himself and ran out the door. He heard someone call him and glanced over to see Valice heading towards him. "You need to come quick, there is a problem on your world." The first thought in his head was Voldemort so he followed Valice in the general direction that most seemed to be heading in.  
  
They broke away from the main crowd of order members and Harry, following Valice, slipped into a room through a red wall. Harry knew these to only be used for secure locations, like the armory and offices. The room went utterly silent as the members saw him. He was in the base's control room that monitored the happenings of the other world and picked up on major magical problems. The men and women seemed to fear him and stared at him.  
  
Harry heard a cry from his right, "Someone stun him or something!" Harry glanced at a man standing by the wall. Most of the occupants of the room pulled out their wands. Harry was terrified.  
  
"Don't be so utterly stupid, lower your wands, that's an order," Harry was relieved to hear Alandria's voice behind him, she must of followed in after them. No one moved, "NOW!"  
  
Everyone in the room jumped at the order and many dropped their wands in the hurry to put them away, but they still stared at Harry in caution. "For gods sake, get back to work, you are supposed to be monitoring the attack. It's obviously not him, he can't be here and there at the same time." This seemed to make sense as everyone ran back to his or her screens to watch the action.  
  
Alandria led Harry to a platform to his left and after manipulating a screen allowed Harry and Valice to watch an image with her. Harry recoiled as he watched the muggles being killed and the boats being sunk. It was horrific. "Who would do this? Valice, Alandria?" he said turning to his two friends. "Voldemort couldn't do something like this, surely he didn't get that powerful?"  
  
"Watch Harry, this is live but it is being recorded." Alandria's tone had softened somewhat from her shouting at the crew.  
  
He did just that. Even Alandria and Valice choked slightly as the two missiles destroyed their masters. They watched as the man pulled back his hood. Harry almost forgot to breath. Even though Alandria knew who it was she was still shocked at the proof.  
  
Silence filled the room as the images ended. Someone finally braved the silence and tapped a button. The faces of the Maesters appeared.  
  
"We saw it," one stated, they all looked paler then usual, "call a complete withdraw of all forces, call a meeting for one hour in the great meeting hall."  
  
"Aye ma'am." The link ended and the screen went blank. To Harry's horror someone started replaying the scenes of the decimated base. A second screen showed the aid forces moving in, and another showed a birds eye picture of the scene. A small box at the bottom of the last screen showed a count of dead and injured people, the number was rapidly climbing.  
  
People started to look at him again, it was like his second year all other again, people accusing him of being the evil heir of Slytherin. He staggered backwards under their gazes. Until he slipped off the raised platform. Harry stuttered incoherently for several minutes as Valice ran to get him a drink. Alandria made her way over and pulled the boy into an embrace to try to comfort him.  
  
"I killed them."  
  
"No you didn't Harry." Was Alandria's quick reply.  
  
"They died at my hand."  
  
"They died at his hand, Harry, not yours." She whispered into his ear to try and comfort him.  
  
"He is me, I'm him." Alandria couldn't think of a reply, but they sat together listening to the commotion of the control room personnel trying to rationalize it. They could hear people saying things like polyjuice and other potions and charms to change appearance, but nobody could explain the magic signature that was an exact replica of Harry's.  
  
"Come let's get to the meeting room," Alandria said as Valice came back in with a drink for Harry.  
  
Harry just nodded and pulled himself to his feet and they headed down to the room.  
  
Once there they waited ten minutes as everyone filed in, Valice explained that the meeting had to be attended by everyone in the order, no civilians were allowed in. The only people in the order that didn't come were ones that had to maintain the control room. A silence finally fell as the Maesters slowly walked in with their aides.  
  
One thing Harry learnt quickly was there was no preamble, the first thing they said was "Watch." The room sat in horror as they watched the screen as the images replayed themselves to the very end and then switched to the kill/injured number, which had thankfully stopped climbing. It read 569 dead, 2089 injured.  
  
"We have just witnessed a scene that took place on Earth one hour ago," Valdice Lexter spoke calmly although all the Maesters were pale, "It is a planet that has long forgotten our Order, only one member is from that planet and he has only been with us two weeks. He knows the recent evils better then most on his own planet. Mr. Potter please stand and introduce yourself and tell us of what you know of the evil of your world."  
  
Alandria pushed Harry up and everyone turned to look at him, cries echoed in the room as the easily ten thousand large crowd recognized him as the man on the image.  
  
"He is not the same as on the image, we were with him in the control center as we watched the image live." Harry was happy to hear Valice speak up for him. The room recognized Valice and Alandria as some of the older members of the order and hushed.  
  
After a prod from Alandria, Harry spoke up and found his voice traveled from the room easily, probably some spell on the room. He explained all he knew of Grindlewald and Voldemort's first and second rise and his own happenings with Voldemort. He concluded by saying;  
  
"There is no known magical being on earth with enough power to create such devastation with such ease on my world. Only the muggle's weapons could kill and destroy so quickly and completely."  
  
"He is correct," this time Uric stood to speak, leaning on his cane. "We have studied Earth as it is a world riddled by evil, it is now only one of two planets where the dark side of magic is more powerful and in more control than the light. The other is Kristoshia." Harry looked around as most of the people shuddered at the mention of Kristoshia, but he held the question as he sat back down. "There is no being on Earth or Kristoshia that wields this power now that Mr. Potter is not there. He is the only one that could do this sort of work."  
  
Atlasa spoke up next. "We propose that a force of one hundred, under the direction of Mr. Potter go and investigate." The room started whispering, most were not happy with taking a two-week recruit with them. "Hush please, I can't speak over you, Mr. Potter has already excelled past his trainers in martial arts and they are almost the best we have, he has also taught them quite a bit with it as well. He is also much more powerful then all here. So he will go."  
  
Anymore arguments were stopped short as the screen behind the Maesters changed to show the face of one of the men in the control room. "Maesters!" The Maesters spun to look up at the screen and nodded for him to continue, "We have a visual image coming through from Kristoshia, which doesn't look very pleasant at all."  
  
"Patch it through." They spoke as one then sat to watch.  
  
The screen shifted to a war on a dark planet. Obviously night. As they watched the screen shifted to lighten the display. They could see a mass of people crashing against a castle with swords and great machinery threw car- sized rocks against the wall. Decimating the castle.  
  
People started whispering again. The screen changed to the man again.  
  
"It's Kristoshia Solem. The experts expect a collapse within 12 hours."  
  
"Our plans just changed," Uric said, "we must aid them first, Kristoshia Solem is the last light citadel on Kristoshia, we cannot get there in time to save it, it is obvious that something has clouded our sensors to the build up of such an army. Alandria Quintis, Valice Aurta, you are to take the 'Sea Dragon' to Kristoshia and try to help in any way, whether it be fighting on the walls or against pirates ambushing escaping Ships. Go as soon as possible, take Master Potter with you. I want you to take squads one through five plus a Special Forces team and a medical team. Stay to talk afterwards. Everyone is dismissed!"  
  
Valice, Alandria and Harry made their way through the crowds, which was actually quite easy as most seemed to be utterly petrified of Harry. They slowly managed to reach the front to sit with the Maesters. Again they didn't waste time.  
  
"You must make sure that a certain boy escapes and is not killed, even at the cost of all your live but Master Harry's. He is vital to the prophecy that governs the order. It states that as the Order comes to a close the downfall of one world to the dark will produce a Dragon Child who will join forces with the Heir of Magic itself, the lightning child. If either die all the worlds will fall to darkness." Atlasa spoke in a barely audible whisper, "The order is ending, the Zalots are returning to the magic stream and taking our long lives with them. The order will fall but these two must survive, but I have spoken too much, just make sure that the Heir to the Kristoshian crown survives."  
  
With that they left towards the armory, then onto the docks. Harry held his questions knowing that there would be time for speech on the ship.  
  
* * *  
  
Look no cliff hanger, I know I said at the beginning that I wouldn't do cliffies if I could, but they are so fun to do that I couldn't resist, plus they help make sure people come back if only to quench their curiosity. This time though I will be nice, until next time. He he he, how can you tell I'm planning something! Until next time, Chio!  
  
Thanks to my lovely reviewers.  
  
Yana5; I hope that answers some of you question!  
  
SilverKnight7; Well done, have a cookie!  
  
kimpotter; Are you a cheer leader or something? (raised eyebrow)  
  
MaidenMasherV; That evil and powerful enough for you?  
  
Ashione; You will find out about his lack of talents in a later Chapter, let the suspense and curiosity rule! 


	9. Ron's Promise and The Prophecy

Catcher  
  
Chapter 9; The Prophecy and Promise.  
  
{Hogwarts}  
  
Ron and Hermione sat in the Great Hall and as they stared at their breakfast without an attempt to eat it, they listened to the conversations around them. Most were centred on this weekends Hogsmead trip on the last day of July mainly so students could replenish supplies and relax after the work they had been doing.  
  
As sixth years they had been studying in all their classes available as well as Hermione and her boyfriend having to do the Defence Teachers job when it came to the Gryffindors. They had covered what they could think of but a month wasn't a long time so they had stayed away from creatures and used Harry's training last year to teach defensive magic like shields.  
  
The thought of the D.A. last year brought tears to her eyes as she thought of Harry, and she was brought back to the memories of the night just past, watching those Muggles being killed without a chance and then sitting through the image again at the meetings. She really didn't want to think about her old friend, she just wished it wasn't true. Unfortunately the feeling she had got in a dream in the library once about a week ago that Harry was happy but angry and wanted revenge, presumably for Sirius death kept coming back to her and she began to realise that maybe he really had turned into an enemy, she shuddered at the thought.  
  
The student's conversations slowly died which normally signalled that there was a member of staff standing calling for silence. The remainder of the Golden Trio as so many had called them looked up to see the headmaster standing and what seemed to be bracing himself for an unpleasant task.  
  
He glanced around at the quiet faces of every student almost trying to find out if someone was missing. The twinkle of his eyes was completely gone and he looked older somehow, but Hermione couldn't work out why.  
  
"Recent events have given the need for me to address older matters. Last night a Muggle Navy base was attacked by a dark wizard. You will not find this in the papers but I felt the need for you to know. You may have noticed that I said 'a' dark wizard," he closed his eyes briefly as if trying to soften the blow to himself at the next words, Ron and Hermione knew what was coming, "This single Wizard is Harry Potter," a gasp ran through the hall especially from the older Gryffindors and the younger students who idolised the Boy-Who-Lived.  
  
The Headmaster was almost shaking with the attempt to control his anger and sadness, he felt that he had lost something dear to him like his own Grandson even though he knew that there was no relation between himself and the boy. "I will remind you of the warrant issued by the Ministry of Magic on Mr. Potter. If you are found helping him the consequences are beyond terrible. The punishment is beyond my control. I will say this though. Harry Potter used to be an ally to the side of the light, seen as our savour and our hope. He was a friend to many here and many not here. That was before he killed hundreds of Muggles without mercy or restraint and cost the country an extreme amount of resources. He is no longer someone to turn to with faith. He will show you little or no mercy. Please think about your actions from this point on." With that he slumped into his chair and Professor McGonagall laid her hand on his shoulder knowing that he couldn't carry on with his own inner turmoil to stop him, so she stood to address the students on the upcoming trip to Hogsmead.  
  
As the murmurs stopped again she caught the sight of Ron and Hermione heading out the door and Albus writing a note. He silently summoned an owl from his office to deliver it and she was slightly surprised to see that she recognised the creature.  
  
"I am sure that I need not remind you of the upcoming trip into Hogsmead," she said to the students, "normal rules apply however I must warn you extra precautions are being taken that we did not produce. The neighbouring Muggle Base is currently patrolling the town and I will warn you only once. Do not annoy them, they are armed with weapons I doubt any of you could protect yourselves from and also they are still on high alert from last night's events. They took a personal insult to last night and I am grateful that the Government did not pull their protection completely. They are also increasing work that is almost complete so it will be complete by the start of the normal year. They are increasing the amount of patrols including aeroplanes and I urge you not to go anywhere near the Military base. They are not something to underestimate or to play with." She looked purposely at the older Slytherins. "Stay away from them or you may very well get hurt."  
  
With that she sighed and sat and watched as the students either carried on eating or left all talking either about the attack last night or the upcoming trip.  
  
* * *  
  
Ron and Hermione were heading back to their common room when an owl flew down the corridor to them. Hermione took the note from the bird and stroked it absently as Ron looked as if an electrical bolt had shocked him. "Hedwig" he breathed out. Hermione gasped as she realised it was true and looked into the eyes of her old friend's beloved pet. The bird leaned into the hand stroking her, then pecked at the note in Hermione's hand. She read it.  
  
"Miss. Granger,  
  
I request yours and Mr. Weasley's presence in my office as soon as possible, there is some news that I need to tell you. If you are wondering about Hedwig she came to my office after Harry's disappearance, she can no longer find Harry and I believe that the old Harry would be delighted to know that you could look after her if you would.  
  
Albus Dumbledore."  
  
The both headed towards the office as Ron read the note and Hermione regarded the bird on her shoulder. She realised that she wanted Harry back and this seemed to help fill the hole Harry had left with his decision.  
  
They reached the office and Ron told the Guard the password, 'Chocolate Eclairs' and they climbed the stairs to find the headmaster sitting behind the desk and the new Minister sitting in front of it. They took a seat as the headmaster asked them to.  
  
Hermione looked into the Headmaster's eyes and could see why he looked so old, his eyes were almost dead and he had heavy bags under his eyes. He seemed to have lost the all-knowing aura that always accompanied him wherever he went.  
  
"Hermione," he paused as if to ask permission to use her given name, he carried on after she nodded her permission, "I am afraid I have just received some more bad news, it seems it was delayed due to the clean up and searches after last night. I am sorry to tell you that your parents have been murdered. They died last night a couple of hours after the attack, probably whilst we were in the Order meeting. I am sorry to say that Harry's magical Aura was the only Signature that was found in you house, evidence points to the fact that he must have killed your parents." He stopped and waved his hand to summon some tea for the crippled girl in front of him leaning on her boyfriend as tears started to form.  
  
"We will take our leave, you may stay her as long as you want and there is a room just through that door that you can stay in today and tonight. Mr. Weasley may stay also, I trust you both. Good day, if you need anything just call for an elf. And please call me Albus." Ron nodded at him and forced a smile as he caught Hermione in an embrace. "I believe that the Ministry is setting up protection for you family Ron."  
  
"Thank you," Ron said to both adults as he held Hermione. With that the adults left to a meeting with the Muggles next door.  
  
Hedwig gracefully landed on Hermione's lap and Hermione looked shock at her as images of Harry fell to the front of her memory.  
  
"How could he," she muttered to herself as the tears flowed down her face, "He killed them, after everything we went through together, after we loved him as a brother. This is how that bastard repays us." Ron was slightly shocked at her words, but he agreed with them and felt betrayal and worry for both Hermione and his own family who could be next on his psychotic friend's list. "I'll kill him." Hermione whispered and Ron's shock grew.  
  
"Hermione," he started but she stopped him as she carried on.  
  
"I'll kill that idiot traitor, he's just the same as Wormtail!" She yelled at the room and then yelped as the owl on her lap took off with a furious screech and dug her talons into the leg she was standing on.  
  
Hermione's anger erupted as the energy seemed to be sapped out by her grief as she yelled at the bird to go back to it's traitorous master. Ron watched the birds retreating form with slight anger as Hermione fell into him and he led her to the bed next door to sleep.  
  
When he was sure his girlfriend was sleeping he looked toward the window that Hedwig had left through and spoke quietly, "I will get you for this, traitor, you betrayed us, you killed Hermione's only family, I will never rest until your dead. For those muggles I will never let you rest in Azkaban, you will die. I'll never let her stoop to your level, I'll kill you myself."  
  
* * *  
  
{The Sea Dragon}  
  
Harry stood next to the Captain of the Sea Dragon near the helm. The ship was even more beautiful when one stood on the deck and looked at the great white sails full of wind. The ship cut through the slightly rough sea, the bow ploughing through the crest spraying ice cold water lightly across the forecastle. The deck was wide enough to easily fit most of the Hogwarts students and the raised Quarterdeck could easily fit another fifty men. At the moment only Harry, Valice and Alandria stood on it with the Captain, Tom Spike. At the moment Valice was steering the great ship, after he had bugged the Captain for at least ten minutes. The three Order members wore general sea combats, Dark blue almost black loose fitting combat gear with a long dark trench clock that surprisingly didn't hinder the fighter's movement but moved with ease.  
  
The Captain wore the uniform of an Officer of the Atlantian Royal Sea Guard. He also wore the insignia of a Captain, which was four stripes laying two above and two below a Sea Dragon, which he recognised as the flying sea creatures that spent so much time in the waters around the domes.  
  
After a while of staring at the sea, which Harry was surprised didn't make him sick, Harry began to wander out across the ship. Deep in thought he found himself on the wet forecastle. The ship pitched over a large wave and came down on the next sending a massive wall of water across the bow. Not bothering to try to dodge the water he used his elemental powers over water to redirect the water around him, and for a split second he stood in a cocoon of water. When the water had passed he glanced back at the helm to see the worried faces of the Captain and his mentors. Obviously they had no faith in him if they thought he would allow himself to get wet. He smirked slightly and turned to lean on the gunwhale at the very front of the ship.  
  
Looking down at the water he watched as it rose and fell over ten metres as the ship was pushed to her limits to get them to there destination. He felt the pull at his mind, he had had the feeling since they had set out just after dawn, an hour ago. He felt like something had happened to a friend, he felt anger towards him but couldn't really grab onto it enough to tell him where it was from. He did know though that something bad had happened other than the attack they had watched. One of his friends was really furious at him.  
  
"Well," he thought to himself as he pulled up a wall of light around this feeling to shut it off, "if they are so eager to give up on me, why should I stop them, let them feel that way, why should I have anything to do with them!"  
  
With that thought he turned and took in the sight over the pitching stern and saw the great domes of Atlanta behind them as they raced away from it on a stern wind. They had explained early in the trip that while they were still in visual range of the domes, Atlanta herself would aid them by changing the winds into a more favourable wind. Harry knew this was good as the wind around the area was heading in the opposite direction and they would have been forced to tack. Moving side on to the wind in Order to move toward the wind in a zigzagging line.  
  
He walked back to the helm to talk to Tom as the man had insisted they call him as technically as members of the Order they were senior to him. That fact Harry wasn't that happy with so he had readily agreed as long as the man didn't call him Sir like the rest of the crew did.  
  
"How long till we get to the portal, Tom?" Harry asked as he got to the helm. He had been told earlier that they would have to travel to get to a point where both worlds, this one and Kristoshia, had sea in the same place as they needed to reappear in water or else the ship would be destroyed, it changed every day as the world turned differently.  
  
"At this speed and course," he walked over to the map and looked at it, tracing long fingers over the pencil markings on it. "I reckon about just this side of an hour, but as you know the wind is almost head on without the weather control. We are out of the control of the City in fifteen minutes, after that we are going to have to tack the rest of the way. I think three hours is a good guess."  
  
"Couldn't we get an Air Elemental to alter the winds so we get there quicker?"  
  
The Captain laughed slightly, "You catch on quicker then most," Harry blushed at the slight compliment, "normally we do, however we don't have enough Air Elementals on board to change it enough. You decided to bring a crew with no Air Elementals."  
  
"I can do it!" Harry responded slightly offended.  
  
Another laugh greeted this, "You are only a trainee kid, I doubt you could do that, we need a least two fully trained wizards." Harry only didn't respond as he liked the man and his jolly ways and because he saw Alandria's shaking head behind Tom.  
  
Harry left the conversation and followed Alandria to the side of the ship to see the Domes trailing further behind them, only just visible now on the horizon.  
  
"Come on Harry, you can prove yourself just before they try to turn, I want to see the look on his face when he finds out just how wrong he is." Harry saw the childish smirk that only Alandria could wear, it reminded him slightly of the childish twinkle in his old headmaster's eyes, but he closed that thought behind a firm wall, it only served to depress him.  
  
"I need to talk to you, about two things really. First is the quickest so I'll say that first." She continued, "Kristoshia is a completely non- magical world or at least not the way you know it. The only real magic there is a few magical creatures, we can pick up their presence but our systems don't seem to know what they are. The people know about magic and can do some things, especially the Solem's of Kristoshia, the royal family. Unfortunately the evil powers seem to own every part of the world apart from the main city that you saw being attacked, I think by the time we get there it will have fallen."  
  
She looked sad for a moment. "But the real reason I mentioned this is because you can't use magic there, not only because you would be found but because the air itself is so starved of it. All our magic would fail, but not before it draws all the evil on the planet to you. We think that you might be able to use you crysti ability on a passive scale, you know let the thought come to you rather then seeking them. Well we'll need those skills because time is short."  
  
"Do you understand that?" He nodded for her to continue, "Good because that the easy to understand part. The second topic is the Prophecy, you heard of one on Earth I believe about only you being able to defeat Voldemort, its true you can. But that is a minor concept compared. You see the one you heard of last night from the Maesters is no longer known. Basically it's said that two people would be found, both born on the Anniversary of Magic. One, the Lightning Child or known as the Heir of Magic, the other is the Dragon Child also known as the Summoner. As you heard last night, they will join forces and fight together, but if one dies the other will fail to the ruin of all light. The other thing is that they will be found as the Zalot's Order falls. It is not widely known but the Zalots are returning to the magic stream, they are leaving the Order and taking our long lives with them. We will remain as the Atlantian Order as our exposure to them gives us another two hundred or so years.  
  
"The point is the Order is soon to fall and we must find the two Lords as they are to be known. The prophecy hints at four unknown powers rising. Though not known as yet, we believe that the powers shown by the young prince of Kristoshia almost rival your levels which would make him the most likely to fill one spot. As one of the Maesters has dreamt of the boys Initiation we have to retrieve him before he is killed. You might be interested to know that his birthday was exactly a year after yours."  
  
She paused to let this sink in before continuing, "Yes that would mean that it is likely that your are the second child, as is obvious as the Lightning child," She glanced at his scar on his forehead." You have already shown one unknown power, your animagus form has never been seen before and it is obviously very magical.  
  
"But I talk too much, basically it is imperative that neither of you are killed, as it would mean that all the worlds would collapse. We have seen a rise in dark magic across all worlds even those not extensively populated. Except for one which we seem to not be able to visit, but the topic is wavering, what I want to say is," she look directly at him. "You have become like a son to me, watch out for yourself and for the prince, I think you will become like brothers in time."  
  
With that she caught Harry in a hug and after a while they walked back to the helm. Obviously Valice had heard the conversation whilst steering but the Captain hadn't heard a word. Harry looked enquiringly at him, before Valice pointed at his wand to show that he had cast a deafening spell on the man to stop him from hearing. Harry grinned in amusement, but was started from his thoughts as the Captain made an announcement as he pointed out a dial on the helm's centre, which showed a lever pointing at zero.  
  
"The winds dead, we are in the extremes where the two winds cancel each other out." As they silently glided through the limbo, the sails flapping uselessly from their restraints. Harry glanced back at the dome and saw that during the conversation they had completely disappeared below the horizon. He looked back around as he heard Tom mutter "Sonorus!" as he pointed his wand at his throat. He turned to look out over his ship and declared, "Bracing Stations, Bracing Stations!" with his magically amplified voice.  
  
The crew snapped alert and rushed to several ropes around them. Alandria nodded to Harry and whispered into his ear.  
  
"Wait till you see the wind back the sails then do it!" Harry nodded happily before taking a step back away from the helm so he could better see the look on the Captain's face when he worked out what was happening. He listened to the still water ripple around the ship and the light talk coming from the experienced crew. He looked up at the sails as he began to draw the vast amount of power he could command to him, he felt it gather around him. He watched the sails as they flapped past the masts towards him, and heard distantly as the Captain opened his mouth to breathe as he begun to give the first helm Order to start the turn of the ship.  
  
Harry smirked as he pulled the winds, which were gathering around the ship as it passed out of the limbo, around the stern then almost threw them at the back of the ship. He knew to keep it controlled but he wanted to make a statement to the Captain. Just as the sails fully reached towards the stern and the first word reached the Captains mouth the sails snapped back past the masts to reach forwards as Harry's powers pushed the wind into them.  
  
The ship groaned at the sudden change of speed and Valice had to plant his feet firmly to keep the helm in the same place, The ship almost flew forwards and the Captain almost fell over with the shock before looking at his crew that knew what should have happened but didn't. Slowly Alandria and Valice began to laugh at the confused expressions over the crew's faces and their own squads and finally Tom looked around to see the faint glow around Harry.  
  
"Told you so!" Harry's voice showed no strain and Harry felt nothing but the power flowing through him in a gentle caress.  
  
He laughed as the Captain muttered a few choice words, as he realised what he was seeing. "Impossible!"  
  
"That would be one point to you my lad!" He smiled at the trainee that probably could out power all of his crew put together. "In that case," he walked the short distance to his map and studied it with his finger then looked up. He yelled at his crew and the Order's squads. "Prepare for Trans- World Portal, Half an Hour to jump!" The men below him looked shocked for a second especially when a few saw the boy behind him slightly glowing but other then that looking completely relaxed and calm. Then they pulled themselves together and headed around to their jobs, stowing gear and such as the Order went below decks to get their equipment.  
  
Harry, while making sure that the wind remained under his control, checked on his own weapons. He had yet to be taught Archery so he didn't wear the Bow and Arrows that most would wear if they were to meet a Pirate ship or enemy. He checked his daggers, one on each side of his belt. The left sheath was larger as it housed his Katana as well, a fighting sword not many could learn with but he felt natural with. He also wore a small dagger on each wrist that he could flip into his hand at the shortest notice and also one short sword strapped to his outer right leg outside his trousers. His favourite weapons were a set of Ninja Stars clasped to the front of his belt. Coloured black to camouflage, as they flew they were barely noticeable to someone without a keen eye. He had learned to use them in his second week, to make up for his lack of ability still present in Wandless Magic. Even if he had progressed in Elemental he knew he still wasn't up to his maximum and it drained him more then he thought it would normally. Once he had declared to himself that all his weapons were in place he let his Trench coat fall back over himself to cover all his weapons.  
  
Alandria commented on the seemingly unarmed boy. "You know you could trick the enemy into thinking you were just a sweet innocent boy, that couldn't hurt a fly." Harry snorted at the comment knowing that he could use it to his advantage one day. He contented himself with playing with the winds as they swept around him making small whirlwinds and mini tornadoes where his wind circled around behind the ship.  
  
* * *  
  
A/N: That was a long chapter especially since my computer kept wiping the start every time I tried to write it. But I kept with it. It is now twice as long as I intended, but I was going to put the next chapter with it but it seems that I might as well add that later as the next chapter.  
  
Bracing Stations; Means the jobs that the crew needs to do in order to turn the sails on a tall ship. Think Victory or the MayFlower. I do know what I am talking about, I have spent weeks on a Tall Ship.  
  
Forecastle; Is a raise platform at the front of a ship.  
  
Quarterdeck; Is a raised platform at the back of a ship.  
  
Bow; Is the front of the ship.  
  
Stern; Is the back of the ship.  
  
Just thought that might clear up a few problems.  
  
Thanks to my reviewers and enjoy your last days of school/college/Uni. Personally I will enjoy my last four days this year of college  
  
Ashione; Ok maybe it was a slight cliffie but at least Harry didn't die again, he might do later though (lol)  
  
Gual1 and Slimpun; Sorry he's a guy, that's what I intended, I cant write soppy love stories.  
  
Yana5 and SilverKnight7; All will be explained later, in the next few chapters, probably chapter 11 or 12, or there abouts. It has to do with Kristoshia  
  
I am planing a slight 'accident' for Draco Malfoy. Sorry to all you Draco fans, but I need a guinea pig and he is the perfect choice, don't worry he wont die, or perhaps he will, please vote on whether I keep him alive or not (use the reviews). If you want a hint to what will happen to him look through the chapter. Please DON'T write it in your reviews though, it will spoil the surprise. If you want to tell me your idea send me an email. I will update soon, I promise! 


	10. Pirates

Catcher  
  
A/N; This chapters got more action then the others, tell me if you think I should change the rating. I was going to put another scene in but I chose to put in the next chapter, so all the action isn't in the same place.  
  
Chapter 10; Pirates.  
  
[The Sea Dragon]  
  
"Remember Harry, No normal magic." Valice reminded him. "We can't deal with the dark forces of the planet if we don't have to, we need to get in and out as fast as possible."  
  
The ships deck was covered in men, the orders forces and the ships fighters ran the length of the ship, archers filled the rigging while the ships crew stood at the ready to change the sails as needed. They had no idea what the weather would be like on the other world. Harry couldn't use his elemental powers if he could help it, so he had let his wind drop and the ship was being moved by the oars slowly against the wind towards the portal.  
  
Harry's attention was drawn to the portal in front of him. It was an awe- inspiring sight. It had almost drained the four ships Casters as they were called and they were now sleeping the effects off in a protected room. Harry knew that he could probably have cast the magic for the portal himself but he couldn't risk the possibility of it going wrong. He was learning how to cast a one-person portal but he was far from having it perfect. What he did know was that he could raise the levels of power in the casters if he needed to, but Alandria wouldn't let him, she had said he would need the energy.  
  
The portal was a swirl of colour, normally it was a certain colour for the caster who creates it but as four men had cast it, shades of red, blue, grey and green swirled around in a forty foot diameter circle facing the front of the ship. It hummed with power and occasionally a stray flare shot outwards from it. The magic had been cast to shut down after they had cleared it, so they didn't have to protect it from the other side.  
  
Harry glanced along the ship. Cannons were being pulled to the sides of the deck with crews standing by to load them if needed. The guns below were not prepared in case there was a storm on the other side because they didn't want to take on water. The ships crews were taking up guns, not the type used by Britain's armies. But old fashioned muskets to match the guns that would be used by the local pirates.  
  
"Thirty seconds to Jump." Someone called from the prow.  
  
"Better pull your weapons." Valice whispered to Harry. Harry was well enough equipped with weapons, his two hidden knives, his fighting stick and his Katana. Without a second lost he pulled out his katana and held it loosely in front of him. He glanced to Alandria as she pulled out a shorter sword than his own, and he listened to the hum as it readied itself for a fight. He remembered her telling him that it was enchanted; by a tribe on a world she had helped. Harry smirked as he kicked in his elemental powers for a second, he passed a extreme amount of fire and lightning into his blade and it flared nicely as the flames leapt off it and the sparks ran the length of it. He quickly called on his water element to keep the hilt cool enough to hold.  
  
"What, I can't have any fun?" He laughed as he saw the look on his mentor's faces. The flare died as the magic settled into the blade, but Harry knew that they would give anyone he touched with the blade either a nasty shock or a burn. As he couldn't use his elemental powers on the world, this would make do nicely and last for about twenty-four hours if he didn't use it.  
  
"Our World Watchers say that we are going to appear about half a mile from a contact but we don't know what. They can pick up the wood and people. By for all we know it could be a floating hut." Valice said just as the ship passed into the portal.  
  
The sensation of using this was quite pleasant compared to port key and floo. The colours spun briefly and then streaked along the ship as they appeared about two miles off a coast on Kristoshia. Not two seconds had passed before the pain hit Harry. Instantly he knew that it was his crysti ability, passively picking up the despair of the magic. He could almost sea the colours flare around the horizon. He staggered and the Katana dropped from his fingers. He fell into the waiting arms of Alandria.  
  
"Ouch," he muttered lamely to her, he heard the shout of the look out as he pushed back the pain.  
  
"Debris the Starboard Bow." Harry finally managed to suppress the pain and stood. He could still see the magic on the horizon. His attention was caught on the black cloud of dark magic on the land to the east. He somehow knew that would be where the city under siege was. He looked at the debris after picking up his Katana. Two halves of a ship slowly sunk. A large burned flag flew from the one remaining mast. A Black background with a white sun flaring brightly pushing out at the blackness. Within the sun was a red flame.  
  
"Dear god," croaked Tom, "It's the royal cruiser. The prince was aboard." Alandria gasped, they were too late. They could see the pirate symbol carved into the stern like a trophy.  
  
Something nagged on Harry's mind, he could feel the battle, could almost hear the cannons roaring as the too ships fought. He could feel the water moan where the ship had been scuttled and where the surviving pirate ship had fled northward with the wind. It was almost crippled. If the situation wasn't so desperate he might have grinned.  
  
He spoke up interrupting the captain and his mentor's discussion about looking for survivors on the scene.  
  
"There are no survivors here." That got their attention. Tom was about to speak up when Alandria nodded at Harry, obviously trusting him. "Captain, set a course north, we're going pirate hunting. The prince is still alive though wounded." The fact that he had said 'captain' made it clear to Tom that it was an order so he began to give out the needed orders.  
  
Harry quickly filled them in on what he had sensed and they quickly posted no less than four lookouts on the starboard side of the ship to watch out on the coastline. They didn't bring out the rest of the guns or cannon balls, but changed to deck clearing guns. They needed to rescue the prince, not kill him.  
  
It was quickly agreed that Harry would search for the prince as he almost had a link with the boy already. And he was worried.  
  
"I can feel his pain," he whispered to Alandria and Valice, "the prophecy is true, its me and him, we can't afford to lose him." He sought along the connection that was growing stronger by the second. He knew that soon it would be fixed and would never break, even in death. He could sense a feeling coming back along the link. Hope.  
  
"Does he know of the prophecy?"  
  
"I think he probably would. It has been kept in the Kristoshian Royal family. They must have known it was him it talked about, that's why they sent him away when they knew they were going to be destroyed." Valice replied.  
  
He focused on the link carefully then sent a message down it, but it drained him, as the link was weak at the moment. "Hold on, I'm coming for you."  
  
"Ship on the horizon!" The yell from the mast tops brought everyone to alert.  
  
"How long, Tom?" Harry asked. Alandria and Valice had obviously left the situation in his hand's as it was his job to save the prince.  
  
"They're going pretty slowly, like you said so. I'd say five minutes till we can fire. Ten till we can board."  
  
"Thanks, how good is your crew at accuracy?"  
  
Tom actually looked offended, then grinned. "The best in the forces!" He said proudly.  
  
"Good, make sure that no-one fires on the hull, and that no one uses anything that will damage the hull. It's bad enough as it is, we can't afford to lose the ship." As soon as possible start to rip its masts down."  
  
"Aye, Harry, glad to."  
  
He gave out orders to increase speed and to arm the guns with mast destroying shots and relayed the message to not damage the ships hull.  
  
The crysti kicked in again, it was a shame he couldn't use it actively, he'd be able to literally search the ship for the prince and go there himself. But then they would have the dark forces engrossed in the city to deal with. He could sense the panic on the ship in front of them.  
  
"They know we're here, they're scared." They would be, the Sea Dragon was almost twice the size as the Royal Cruiser and still larger then the pirate ship, which was almost crippled. "They'll kill the prince."  
  
He concentrated on the Prince, and it surprised him that he didn't know the boys name. "What's his name?" he asked Valice. But only got a shake of the head. Obviously no one knew.  
  
He opened the almost full link. "We're nearly there. Five minutes."  
  
"I know," was the weak reply, but it wasn't the link that was weak, it was the prince. A weak laugh came along the line. "They're panicking, running around like idiots. You must have a very nice ship."  
  
"We do, twice the size as yours was." Harry glanced at the Captain who was trying to get his attention.  
  
"We're in range to shred them, Sir." He'd got formal due to the battle.  
  
"Do it, Captain." Then switched to the link again as it formed perfectly. "Incidentally, my Prince," he said with amusement, even if he was worried. He could feel the pain that the prince was in, it felt like he was being beaten, "Avoid the walls if you can."  
  
The cannons barked as they threw their ammunition. Twin balls chained together that would rip apart the rigging as they spun widely.  
  
"The pirates are cutting their losses," Harry said to the Captain as the rear mast was torn from the ship, two remained. "They are attacking the prince."  
  
"Hold on, kid!" he sent through the link.  
  
"Who are you calling a kid?" The voice was filled with amusement. "If the prophecies true you've only been in this business for a few months. How about a count? I've got two so far."  
  
Harry laughed out loud. He had obviously stolen a sword. They were still one hundred yards astern of the ship. He turned to Valice and Alandria. "Lets see how far the Leprano can jump, or fly."  
  
"What Harry? You cant, you'll never make it."  
  
"I have to, they are going to kill him."  
  
"The deck's swarming with Pirates, you'll be killed!" This came from Valice this time.  
  
"I know, it'll be fun!" Harry laughed, "See you in a bit."  
  
With that, a grinning Harry was replaced by the vicious looking Lepra with the coat of bright fire and the lightning spinning around it. It looked at the Captains scared face, nodded, which seemed to put the Captain at ease slightly. Then threw back its head and let out an evil roar which seemed to silence the roars of the cannons and the snapping of the second mast on the pirate ship. It actually did silence the next round as the gunners were too stunned to do anything and as they were now too close to risk the shots hitting the side of the ship they stopped firing.  
  
"What the hell was that?" Came the voice of the Prince slightly shaky with his fight and the fright of the roar.  
  
"Me," Harry replied happily as he pushed the mental image of the Lepra, "I told you I'd win our bet."  
  
"Yeah, well now they're angry so I could do with a hand."  
  
With that and the mental image of his own eyes flowing into the Princes he jumped from the deck across to the other ship. In the air, in the few seconds of flight as he did the impossible jump he heard the Prince jokily report that his room was cleared and say that his count was eight.  
  
"You can't count any kills made in another form, that's cheating." Declared the Prince.  
  
"Fine then," Harry replied with a laugh. "There is six on the quarterdeck, watch and learn kid."  
  
His last thought before he landed was, 'This is going to be fun.' Just before he landed he morphed back to human form and his heavy boots thudded onto the deck. He laughed at the faces of the astonished pirates who had never encountered an Animagus before. He drew his sword and as if this kicked them into action at the sight of something they understood, the pirates drew their swords and started towards him.  
  
Harry knew he was fast enough to take them but thought of a better idea, he didn't want the pirates killing the Prince, he needed to make it down there as quick as possible.  
  
He slammed his Katana into the deck in front of him and drew out the lightning in it. Six flashes of lightning flew across the deck and leapt onto the chests of the six men throwing them across the ship dead. Harry knew he had completely drained the lightning in the sword but wasn't bothered.  
  
"Six," he declared to the kid but got no reply. In the second of peace as more ran to meet him he sought along the link to find that the Prince was unconscious almost directly below his feet. He could sense him being beaten by two men.  
  
He got angry and leapt forward and off the quarterdeck to the main deck. He quickly killed to men guarding the door, one with a swift flick of the katana and then he slammed his fist into the throat of the other, then as he gasped for air knocked him unconscious with the hilt of his sword. He quickly put his foot through the door as the order members started swinging over to the ship. It took him all of thirty seconds to descend to the bottom of the ship, killing four men on the way. He came to the door and could feel the extreme pain that the Prince was in, and to make it worse he was coming around as the kicks brought him back to the waking world.  
  
He opened the door quietly as he flicked out the knife on his wrist and sheathed his sword. Then reached down to his boot and pulled out another. He took a second to see the two captors. Then let fly the two knives.  
  
The Prince was just giving up hope when his two captors fell forward with the knives coming out of their necks.  
  
The Prince looked into the face of his rescuer but was in no state to realise that the link was there. The rescuer looked slightly confused and hurt as the Prince backed up against the wall. The only sound was the battle above them.  
  
A smile appeared on the rescuers face as he looked at the boy.  
  
"I think I won," he laughed out loud, the Prince thought he recognised it but was too hurt to realise why. "Fourteen!" A smile reached across the hurt boys face.  
  
"Good to meet you, did take your time though."  
  
They clasped hands as Harry went to help him to his feet, and they were both blinded by pure light.  
  
* * *  
  
[Meanwhile on the Sea Dragon]  
  
Alandria quickly organised the killing of the last of the Pirates, they wouldn't take any back, and it was against rules. When everyone was back to the Sea Dragon, and the wounded were seen to she resigned herself to waiting for Harry.  
  
"He should be back by now!" She muttered to Valice.  
  
"Don't worry about it, he is probably healing the kid. He was pretty hurt." He said it as if it were nothing. "If you want to we'll go and see."  
  
With a nod to the Captain they started to the gangplank, but as they were getting close the ships split apart. And the Pirate ship almost flew sideways. Too astonished by the movement she couldn't stop the lines from landing in the water. The ships were separate again. She could only watch as a blinding light flew out of the other ships portholes and the holes in the deck. The last thing she saw before she was sent to the deck by Valice was the ship exploding.  
  
* * *  
  
Thanks to my reviewers, before everyone starts trying to kill me, there is NO reference in that scene to say that Harry and the Prince are dead. So don't shot the author. I need more votes;  
  
Should I kill Draco in the next few Chapters or not?  
  
Kraeg001; Thanks mate! Look forward to your reviews.  
  
Misty-Malfoy; Thanks for the Vote. Harry will talk to his friends, they might not know it though. He can't at the moment cause it's against Order Rules. Hope you enjoy the rest of the plot.  
  
SilverKnight7; I hope that in a while all your questions will be answered.  
  
Yana5; Hopefully in a few chapters you wont be so confused, unfortunately if I answered all the question, my story would lose a lot of the plot. Remember not even the Order knows who is attacking England, so it would be a bit strange if suddenly Harry knew.  
  
Come on, you can do more reviews than that, even if they are just to say that you read the story!  
  
After the next few chapters I am going to start on another story!! I don't really have a complete plot for either of my stories so I apologise in advance!  
  
Lets see if I can get 40 reviews total before I update. It not a bribe, just a hope. 


	11. Muggle Power

Catcher  
  
A/N; Hopefully this chapter will answer some questions for you all. Some Draco Bashing for you. One last point is that when the speech is telepathic it will appear in between //'s, so it is not confusing.  
  
Chapter 11; Muggle Power.  
  
[Sea Dragon]  
  
The ships crew stared in silence at the debris of the Pirate Ship. There wasn't really any point looking for survivors amongst it as even if by some miracle anyone had survived you would surely see them in the match stick size remains.  
  
A tear streaked Alandria slowly allowed herself to be pulled up to the Helm by her partner. Once there, she lent against the rear railing and tried to collect herself.  
  
It wasn't long before her sullen mood was abruptly interrupted by a shout from the mast tops.  
  
"Unidentified objects astern!"  
  
Tom, Valice and Alandria flung themselves around to see three small black shapes skimming the waves towards them.  
  
"What are they?" she asked Valice as he knew more about the planet then her.  
  
"Demon Aleia, Demon Skaters!" He went very pale as he continued to watch them, before turning to the Captain. "Set your sails, we need to go, Now!" He shouted across the deck and called for the Order members to get to the back of the ship to fire at them before asking the captain how far it was to the nearest safe point where they could leave the Kristoshia.  
  
"What about Harry?" It was easy to hear the pain in Alandria's voice.  
  
"The dark forces must have picked up that blast. They'll send reinforcements. If Harry is still alive he'll be able to sort himself out."  
  
Tom interrupted, "We can leave now from here, its clear and we'll appear only a mile from the base but our Caster's haven't enough energy to cast it."  
  
Alandria and Valice quickly resigned to setting up the Portal, they were powerful enough to create one, while the Order members shot at the Demons in a vain hope to kill them or at least slow them enough to make an escape.  
  
By the time Valice and his partner had finished the portal the sails were set and the Demons were only just behind them. Alandria had never seen one except in pictures. She knew they looked like a species of water crawlers from her own planet. Great black predators that hunted flesh, and could sense magic across miles. They were also almost sentient and clever. They were most dark-forces navy. They had eight enormous legs with large flat feet that aloud them to almost fly across the water, a lot faster then any ship. To people like Harry they would look like deformed Earth Water Skaters. But you wouldn't want to try to squash it.  
  
Valice realised the problem too late. "They'll try to follow us through, Captain send a message ahead on the situation."  
  
The message barely got to Atlanta before the Sea Dragon passed through the Portal in a swirl of Silver and Orange light. When they appeared the Captain quickly turned the ship to starboard to give the dome a clear firing line.  
  
One of the Demons got through the Portal behind them but the second was unlucky enough that the Portal closed when it was half way through, successfully cutting it in two, the halves quickly sunk to the bottom.  
  
The first demon barely paused before lurching at the Sea Dragon. A mile to the left they barely heard the Alarms of the Domes before three Beams of red light flew from the tips of the domes and struck the creature on its side. The Demon roared in pain and was quickly struck three more times. It settled in the water briefly to regain its breath before starting towards the Sea Dragon again.  
  
To the surprise of the watchers the second defence of Atlanta leapt out of the water from beneath the Demon in the form of a real Sea Dragon. It great jaws closing around the Demon before pulling it under the surface. Even without riders to control the Light creatures that were Sea Dragons they would defend anything under attack around Atlanta.  
  
"The Maesters are not going to be thrilled!" Valice muttered and as if they had heard him, a Zalot appeared on his shoulder with a note that read.  
  
"Mr. Aurta, Miss. Quintis, please report to the Maesters Chambers."  
  
They still gulped even with the knowledge that there was no way they could be blamed for losing Harry and the Prince.  
  
* * *  
  
[Hogsmead; August 31st]  
  
Ron and Hermione hadn't bothered with visiting Hogsmead, as it would only be a reminder of Harry. Ron was researching spells to avenge Hermione's parents and Hermione had arranged for her grandmother to visit the school to spend the day.  
  
In Hogsmead the students were unusually quiet, the presence of the Muggle Army Guards acted to build up the tension in the air. None of the Students were stupid enough to prank or argue with the Guards and were quick to get out of the way of a passing armed man.  
  
This was only because at that moment Draco Malfoy and his two bodyguards were not in the village, they were trying to approach the Muggle Base from the trees to the south of the Town. Ducking under bushes and trees when a plane flew overhead, their roars shaking the trees and even Draco was slightly nervous at the size of the bombs hung skilfully under their wings.  
  
Draco had received a letter from his father, unsigned and unclear, but clearly saying to show the Muggle Base what power was and that Wizards were truly superior. His father had been released by Voldemort shortly before the Ministers death and had started a life as a fugitive. Draco planned to show the Muggles what he thought three Wizards could do to Muggles.  
  
"Are you sure about this Draco? It seems dangerous. What about those Gons they have?"  
  
"They're Guns, Greg, Gun's. Now shut up! If weak Potter can destroy a base, I am sure we can show one a bit of humility!"  
  
A light chuckle followed these words by his companions as they had been trained to.  
  
They paused by the edge of trees. The cleared trees in front of them were now just stumps still standing in the ground. Disturbed soil filled the gaps. The clearing ended in a high wire fence. Two sand placements stood before the fence and two perimeter-towers loomed above it. Draco could see the hangers and bunkers on the other side of a long runway. "Too easy he whispered to himself."  
  
Not being completely stupid he quickly cast a simple invisibility charm, assuming that the Muggles were too stupid to see the glistening and warping of the light instead of their bodies. He wasn't powerful enough to cast complete invisibility charms. He confidently stepped out of the trees with the forms of Crabbe and Goyle with him.  
  
Across the field and runway, an alarm instantly rang in the War Room. As soon as they had stepped out of the trees they had been seen, not that they knew that.  
  
The senior officer on watch who happened to be the General in charge of the base, General Granger, instantly called the defenders to change to heat seeing goggles and alerted the snipers to stand by. He wanted to see what the intruders, clearly Wizards, were going to try. He watched there red bodies through the Heat Seeing cameras, and watched the alarms blink as they detected their motion. He had an agreement with the Wizarding School. Having a daughter due to start the next day and his niece Hermione already there had been the main reasons he had got this placement. He would fire if fired upon. If the kids died it was their own stupidity. They were now about halfway through the perimeter minefield, which he had purposely shut off. He could have it armed in two second if he wanted.  
  
"Tell the Guards to engage." He said to his aid. They were briefed on what to do.  
  
On the minefield, Draco was getting more confident, now only thirty metres from the fence he could see the gun emplacements. The idiot Muggles were looking straight at him, and couldn't see him. He had to stop himself from laughing. Then he froze, as the men moved.  
  
The two sharp clicks that signalled the loading of the two Machine Guns behind the Sandbags almost made him cry out for help. Still he pulled himself together and ignored the sounds. "They had probably seen a rabbit or something! Stupid Muggles. His father had always told him how daft these people were." He told himself. He took another step towards the fence.  
  
"Hold!" The shout froze him still. They had been seen, no matter they could probably not hit a dragon with those guns. "Identify yourselves."  
  
Draco feeling more confident then he should have been let the invisibility charm drop and lowered his wand. He didn't know of the two snipers aiming at them or the potential minefield.  
  
"Leave or you will be shot!" This time the sound came from a speaker on the fence.  
  
Foolishly, wanting to avoid failing his father's wraith if he failed, he raised his wand. He threw a Reducto Curse at the right Machine gun as Crabbe and Goyle flung wild banishing charms, which tore apart a section of the fence.  
  
In the War Room the General watched as three of his gunners were injured by the curse and a part of his fence was torn down. He'd never hold it against the entire Wizarding World, but orders were orders. He turned to a Technician in front of him.  
  
"Arm the Mine Field! Order the Snipers to open fire at the two outer attackers. Tell the gunners that if that idiot in the middle moves his wand, kill him!" He did that because he recognised the centre as a school kid called Draco Malfoy as the Headmaster had predicted this might happen.  
  
Two sharp cracks sounded from in front of Draco and before he could even think of moving, his companions were thrown backwards in a spray of blood as a bullet passed into their heads. In horror at their sudden deaths he turned to the remaining Machine Gun emplacement, he staggered back in shock as he saw the barrel looking back at him. He didn't care what his father thought, he had underestimated them. As soon as his foot landed behind him, he felt pain as the ground exploded under him and his world went up in dirt and flames.  
  
In the War Room General Granger got the reports back from the Field. One of his men dead and two injured. He sighed, at least the enemy would think again. Two of the wizards killed by their snipers the other blown apart from the mine. He would go to the school with the bodies himself at least to assure the headmaster that they hadn't just opened fire on sight. He dreaded the thought of the look on his niece's face especially after her parents.  
  
* * *  
  
[The Magic Realm]  
  
Harry and the Prince arrived on a circular platform. There was no one around so they took the chance to talk while they looked around. Their blades still out.  
  
//Hey kid// Harry ignored the mental growl, //since I won our bet, can I ask your name, maybe then I'll stop calling you kid.//  
  
//It's Matsue Solem, but I hate that name or 'My Prince' so if you call me anything but Matt, I'll run you through with this here blade!//  
  
Harry couldn't help but laugh and moved to look over the side, to anyone else they looked as if they were ignoring each other. //Well Matt, my names Harry Potter, as I'm in the Order of the Zalot it's supposed to be Sir Harry Potter but again I'll set my cat side on you if you call me anything but Harry!// This got a laugh from Matt, and they were instantly friends. It was hard not to be once you had fought together against pirates and linked so that your true feelings were passed between you. They could sense the trust towards each other.  
  
//That wouldn't be Harry Potter, as in The-Boy-Who-Lived would it.// At this he was stunned as Harry walked to the edge and banged his head on one of the surrounding six pillars.  
  
//Another name I hate, along with the fame that comes with it.//  
  
//Well, I'd stay away from my world then, if there is anything left of it. Our Seers have seen a lot of your world, 'Earth,' especially your Dark Lord's activities.//  
  
Harry interrupted, //He's not our Dark Lord, he's a pompous idiot. Lets talk of this latter, Matt, we need to sort out what's happening. All I remember is grabbing your hand and being encased in light and then brought here.//  
  
Matt nodded his agreement. Harry walked back to the edge and peered down a steep cliff. They were on a stone circle with a stone roof held up by stone pillars. At the bottom of the cliff a river ran, powerful and strong as it cut under the two cliffs on either side. The other cliff opposite them was taller and they realised that they were only half the way up their cliff. A Path led off into the cliff behind them and weaved in and out of the wall as it moved upstream to meet what looked like a wall and lots of massive water falls.  
  
Harry tried his active crysti. //It's block, I can't sense a thing!//  
  
//What?//  
  
//Crysti.//  
  
//Huh?// he sounded confused, and Harry realised he had forgotten how little Matt knew about him.  
  
//Sorry, lets walk and I'll tell you.// They walked along the path together, they sheathed their swords and Harry found his two knives that he had thrown, clean and replaced in their rightful places.  
  
After about half an hour where Harry and Matt had shared what they knew of the Prophecy they came to the Wall. The road disappeared into it.  
  
With a shrug Harry stepped through it, and gasped at the sight. He heard Matt gasp as he came through behind him.  
  
A city lay before him. The waterfalls and the wall had been an illusion. The City was built on the cliff sides as they met at a single powerful waterfall. Waterfalls flowed under and around the buildings casting a rainbow across the City. The City was never silent, always with water flowing through it. Birds flew from building to building. To Harry's amazement, there were Griffins, Phoenixes and even a Lepra that he noticed, there were also strange black panthers with slick feathered wings on their backs. They seemed to walk with the Leprano and looked strangely similar. The City was made of bright stone and marble. Tall towers and square halls covered the city. Markets and Barracks ranged.  
  
Quickly Matt realised where they were from his Mythology lessons.  
  
//The City of Elves.//  
  
//Huh?// Harry was too amazed as he saw the Magic ebbing off the place, it seemed that his Crysti ability wasn't blocked here. //The City of Magic.//  
  
//Yeah,// Matt replied, //how did you know that?//  
  
"I don't know, but there is more Magic here then anywhere else I've been. Even your world." He didn't realise he had spoken aloud.  
  
"That's true," came a flowing voice from his right, an old elf stood in long white robes, "This is The City of Magic though it hasn't been called that for thousands of years. Now it is known as The City of Elves or The City of Light. Welcome to the Realm of Magic, created by the Creator of Magic." He turned to Harry, "You are his heir."  
  
* * *  
  
Does that confuse anyone, explanations next chapter! Tell me what you think of the Draco/Granger fight!  
  
Just a point, if you read this but are not a user, you can still write a review as I have left the setting off. Please Review!  
  
Athenakitty; I hope you enjoy the rest of the story.  
  
ROG1039; Trust me, I look forward to that as well.  
  
Jenni Miller; I can't really write soppy love stories, so there wont be much details, I liked your review and I would love to hear anything you have to say on it. The bright lights tend to be when Harry is pulled somewhere else against his will, its sort of his magic fighting against him being forced somewhere he doesn't want to go to.  
  
Priss, gual1, SilverKnight7; Thanks for your reviews. I look forward to your next Reviews!  
  
Sorry this chapter took so long but I live in England and am at college so I have loads of exams coming up. 


	12. The City of Magic

Catcher  
  
A/N; Those more observant of you may have noticed my new story, make sure to look in on it and see what you think! I am not stopping this one as is obvious. Enjoy!  
  
Chapter 12; The City of Magic  
  
{Hogwarts}  
  
Albus had sent for Madam Pomfrey and Minerva as soon as he had sensed the approach of the Muggles along the road to Hogsmead. They stood in silence as the small group approached.  
  
General Granger walked silently with the Airforce Marshall next to him, his counterpart for the air. The look on his face was stern. A group of students followed his entourage up to the castle curious after hearing the few gunshots and the explosion.  
  
They kept their distance though, probably due to the three black body bags on a rolling table behind the General. The oldest of the wizards, obviously a local kept the students back as he recognised the guards with the General.  
  
The older wizards knew these men, dress in dark trench coats hiding knifes and guns. They were the anti-Wizarding division. The government's main task force against magic. Highly trained, they could be used for anything from reconnaissance to assassination. Most wizards were right to fear them, they were easily a match for most wizards.  
  
The group stopped suddenly with the appearance of one of the few Wizards the general trusted on the base, one Arthur Weasley. The Muggle-Wizard Alliance Minister looked over the group. Took in the General and Marshall with a brief nod, then his eyes widened as he took in the ten AWD members, but quickly recovered with a nod at the Captain only distinguished by a dull silver strip across his coat collar. His gaze finally settled on the three bodies. Each with a sticker reading "Identification pending affirmation." He fell to the side of the General and gestured to the castle and they continued their trek.  
  
When they arrived at the castle the headmaster silently led them into the Great Hall. Five of the AWD fell into guarding positioned outside the door as they closed behind the rest of the group. The students in the Entrance Hall wisely keeping their distance as rumours quickly spread up through the school.  
  
Inside the Hall, Snape waited and quickly took in the situation. He quickly noticed that the five members of the AWD kept an eye on him. The bodies were quickly uncovered as the General turned to the Headmaster.  
  
"Headmaster Dumbledore, did you make it clear that the base was not to be approached by the Students or any other Wizard or Witch?" With Albus' nod he continued. "I am sorry for the loss, but these individuals were on the suspect Death Eater lists, they attacked after being warned and the attack was on the lists of potentially lethal curses."  
  
"They were warned," Snape cut in, "trust a Malfoy to attempt to prove his worth against that sort of force." Snape had seen many Muggles fight in the first war against Voldemort and from the vantage point of being at the aim of the AWD's fighting techniques, he had decided to not try attacking a base.  
  
Albus turned back to the General. "What of your men?"  
  
"Two with slight injuries, one took the brunt of a 'Reducto' curse, he died a few minutes after the attack."  
  
"Do you need us to treat the two injured?" He already knew the answer but thought it polite to offer anyway.  
  
"No, the two in question asked to be treated Non-Magically, it seems that this attack made a few more anti-wizards. I trust this will defer anymore attacks against the base by students?"  
  
With that the conversation quickly ended and the team made to leave.  
  
"Before I leave I ask if you wish to have a few AWD here as protection?" The general decided to leave the 'against whom' for the Wizard to work out.  
  
"That probably would be wise, how many can you spare?"  
  
"Well we have one hundred in the base, I will leave these ten with you and send another ten later with both squads equipment. Before I leave I would ask for a conversation with my niece if I may. I haven't had a chance to talk to her since before my brother was killed."  
  
"Of course, I will send for her immediately, would you mind if her boyfriend attended, they don't seem to separate lately?"  
  
"I wouldn't expect to be able to keep him away from what I have read on the Weasleys." He laughed lightly as he looked at his Wizarding guide, the Weasley family patriarch.  
  
* * *  
  
{The City of Magic}  
  
Harry lay in his bed, his friends bed a few metres to his left. Their weapons lay on the table at the foot of their beds apart from the single daggers sitting at the heads of their beds. The curtains blocked the evening light from entering the window but neither slept as they went over the days events. Both were quite exhausted.  
  
After their shock of where they were and being lead through the City with everyone watching them. Elves, Dwarves, Leprano and Fairies all seemed interested in them. Though the Leprano seemed more interested in Harry then Matt.  
  
They were led to the largest building, which sat at the centre of the city midway between the cliffs on a massive bridge. They were met by the rulers of the City that to Harry's surprise bowed to him and looked surprised in return when he bowed back.  
  
He soon realised why they were so surprised. They explained who he was in relation to the city. 'His' City by inheritance. He soon took in the information. Built at the creation of Magic by a man known as Lord Creator, subtle name Harry mused to himself. Then again they had called him 'Lord Catcher' and explained why. He was Lord Creator's heir chosen by him those many years ago. The 'Heir of Magic.' He had been told that according to 'his' library's documents he had the ability to completely control Magic. He promised that come morning he would visit the Library and read everything on this man and this Cities history.  
  
After eating a meal with the Rulers he had been asked by the Lord of Leprano to accompany him. He left Matt with some elves eager to hear of Kristoshia with a cheery bye and followed the Lepra outside to a small courtyard. After being shocked by the appearance of twenty Lepra, he had taken on his Animagus form which he soon discovered wasn't really an Animagus, but his alternate form. They taught him all they could about their culture and powers. Including why he had seen the Panther shapes walking around. Some of the Leprano could change into a discreet form. Well discreet compared to the fiery death look. Harry couldn't see how a Panther with larger feather wings spanning out two metres to each side of him could be called discreet. He also managed to surprise the natural Leprano by morphing again into a simple Panther with no wings. That was subtler. The Leprano figured that as he was human as well it made sense. He was the only non-Lepra to ever take on the form. He had thoroughly enjoyed the meeting as he found the Leprano thoroughly enjoyable to be around. As smart if not smarter than humans.  
  
They had informed him that some would accompany him back to Earth when he went and that they could not be detected by traces and were masters of disguise.  
  
He had soon rejoined with Matt and eaten the last meal of the day as Matt informed Harry of the meeting with the Dragons that had bonded with him, and he could now summon to him. It seemed that Harry's powers of absolute manipulation of magic and Matt's dragon summoning powers were what the prophecies had mentioned.  
  
They talked for hours getting to know each other better and using the link had transferred the memories of many of their adventures including, at Matt insistence the Death of Cedric, Sirius and the activities on Earth.  
  
"If I am to live on earth, I need to know about the real events not the stories in our libraries about the Founders and Merlin." He had said.  
  
Harry had in turn witnessed the battles on Kristoshia and the last stand of the Solem and the pirate attack, absorbing the information like a sponge. They had quickly discovered that their knowledge gained individually could be taught to the other across the link in a few seconds.  
  
With those thought flying around his head he listened as his best friend fell into sleep and Harry soon followed lulled by the steady breathing from his left.  
  
* * *  
  
{Hogwarts}  
  
Black drapes hang from the walls as the start of year feast began in remembrance of the Malfoy and his companions, though only the Slytherins really felt unhappy about his departure. They event had been explained half an hour before, instead of putting the news through the first years as they first arrived.  
  
The sorting soon finished and the feast was well under way. The twenty members of the AWD stood silently at the ends of the hall, ten behind the headmaster and ten by the doors. Normally they wouldn't be attending the meals but as this was the start and their general sat with his niece at one of the tables.  
  
They were the first to react to the bright light shinning through the door and had their guns drawn as the door opened and two people entered. The two people who had entered gave a brief look at the ten guards closest to them.  
  
"State you names and purpose!" One of them demanded. The two people shared a brief glance and waved their hands simultaneously, throwing the ten muggles back on the floor to either side of the door in a blast of magic.  
  
The effect on the room was instantaneous. Half of the school had their wands drawn, a jittery Slytherin third year through a curse at the man, but it was efficiently blocked but it seemed to break the stalemate as most of those that were now standing threw curses or hexes. All were either blocked or dodge with great effect. The ten other AWD's waited for their general's signal but still aimed at the intruders.  
  
One of the intruders took a step behind the other as he carried on blocking the curses with great effect. It soon overwhelmed him though as the students started to send volleys at them. A wall of magic appeared around them as a ward appeared around them. The woman stepped out from behind the man and smiled as the curses were absorbed. Light glowed around her fingers.  
  
"Stop, before I start sending them back!" She yelled, the Headmaster heard and called a stop, he himself hadn't drawn his wand but had called up his magic to build up a net around the door to stop them moving further into the hall.  
  
The shots slowly came to a close but a stubborn Ravenclaw sent a 'Stupefy' at the ward and it seemed the woman wanted to prove that she could and the spell bounced back but didn't reach the boy as it hit another ward. The headmasters.  
  
"Smart move," came the woman's voice as she smirked at the Headmaster, "We only wish to talk, we bring bad news. Since we do not have long we must talk now."  
  
They both headed to the Head table but were stopped as they hit the ward. The man sighed. "We really must insist Headmaster," he turned to his partner, "Portal?"  
  
She nodded and to the surprise of the students, circles of light appeared to their sides and by the headmaster. Before anyone could react they stepped through and reappeared by the headmaster.  
  
The headmaster seemed to relax, "Lower your wands, they will do us no harm." He knew that dark wizards could not achieve portals, but only by powerful ones especially in Hogwarts, he himself could but it drained him.  
  
They nodded in return. And the Headmaster recognised the signs of a wandless silencing spell around them.  
  
The woman spoke, "My name is Alandria Quintis, this is Valice Aurta of the Interworld Order of the Zalot. That name will not leave this spell. We are here as the named mentors---and friends---" she added with a slight hitch to her voice "to inform you that Harry James Potter has died on a mission to save the Royalty of a planet plagued with Evil."  
  
Valice took over at the shocked look on the mans face, "We too have seen the 'form' of Harry Potter on this earth doing damage, but have the proof of his innocence, we must discuss this elsewhere. With that they opened a portal and waved the Headmaster through to his office. Valice was the last through and broke the wards down before smirking at the surprised faces. A quick memory charm wiped everyone present's memories of the occasion before he too stepped through the portal, letting it close behind him.  
  
* * *  
  
Good? What do you think? Please review!  
  
Thanks to all my reviewers;  
  
Wytill; Yes I am, I don't think Muggles get enough justice in stories. It adds a slight twist.  
  
CelticKnight; I really don't know, we will have to see!  
  
Also athenakitty, gual1, Jenni Miller, Pblegacy and anyone else that reads but doesn't review! 


	13. Return and Betrayal

Catcher  
  
A/N; This chapter is being a pain, I wrote this start once already and it has bugged me to no end, so I am sorry if it is a bit lacking in any way. If it is I may try to redo it later on.  
  
Chapter 13; Return and Betrayals  
  
[City of Magic]  
  
Harry watched as his friend, Matt, and his mentor, Joah, sparred with their swords. The blades moving almost too fast for normal humans to see, even for some elves. Harry restrained his laugh as the best Swords Master in the City of Magic was tripped by a lightning fast swipe his legs. His friend laughed happily as he reached his hand down to the their elven trainer to help him up.  
  
Joah stood ever gracefully and took motioned his palm towards his fallen blade to return it too it place on hip. Harry was above the standards of humans on Earth in sword fighting but his expertise was in Magic where even the top five Mages couldn't match him, even in a five on one battle. Both Matt and Joah could wipe him off the floor in most forms of weapons fighting. Though due to his alter self as a Lepra he could outfight them in second with hand to hand combat making him impossible to defeat as he in a open duel he would just dispense with blades and use charms on his limbs to give them the effect of stone to block the blades.  
  
Joah and Matt were always trying to get a thrown dagger near him but had never actually managed to do it, Harry was just too fast for them. His Leprano senses made for an almost perfect reaction time.  
  
As Joah noticed Harry's suppressed laughter he decided on revenge but no sooner had the twitch of a wrist been made to throw the small throwing dagger, Harry's fist soundlessly hit the ground at his side and he was flipping over in the air above where he had been sitting against the wall watching. The blade passed harmlessly under him as he arced over the top and onto his feet.  
  
No sooner had his feet made the connection with the floor that he saw the next blade fly towards him, he twisted to the right, but then got an idea. He plucked the blade out of the air as it passed his face and continuing his graceful yet fast twist he threw the blade back at its owner. Before Joah could even blink in surprise at the unorthodox, even impossible move, the blade struck him in the upper leg. He fell to the ground and pulled out the knife.  
  
Matt sighed and walked to Joah before waving a staff to close the wound. Harry barely felt the pull on his magic at the use of the staff. They had both found out that they could use each other's powers, though it took a lot of concentration to do so. Harry could control dragons and speak to them if need be, and Matt could draw on Harry's power but it tired them both out. The Elven Mages had made the staff for Matt at Harry's insistence so that Matt had almost full access to Harry's power through the staff as Matt had none of his own Magic to summon.  
  
Once they had helped Joah to his feet they headed towards the docks. The Burning Wind sat in her usual place amongst the tall ships. Harry's ship by heritage was amazingly beautiful on day Matt and Harry would ride her into battle. Her three hundred magically fueled guns and four masts full of sails made her impossible to beat in a firefight. But not today. Harry and Matt had spent along time plotting their return to Hogwarts, they had needed a good excuse for their arrival and why no-one knew of them. In the end they had contacted Dumbledore about the still open Defence against the Dark Arts position that the students themselves were teaching with the guise of a man recently out of hiding since the last rise of Voldemort and his familiar, a black panther. It had worked and so today they would arrive at Hogwarts and with a slight bit of harmless time manipulation they would arrive during just after the sorting of the first years.  
  
On the way Matt started on the topic that Harry feared most. "Are you nervous?" he asked  
  
"What about?" but Matt wasn't fooled for a minute.  
  
//You know what I mean Harry, your friends, are you nervous about finding out what they think of you?//  
  
//Well I'm not nervous as such, they wont know I'm there. More anxious then anything else, you know, to find out if they trusted me not to turn evil.//  
  
"We'll see," Matt said aloud and grinned at the confused looks on the elves faces. It had taken a while but they had soon stopped whispering and bowing to Harry, but they still watched them walk around and some that Harry and Matt recognised nodded to the two Lords. Matt had stopped calling Harry Lord Catcher when Harry had found Matt's name written in the City Ledger as Lord Dragon.  
  
Three hours later they both stood in the middle of the City Square, the ruling council stood opposite them looking the part and with Harry and Matt sat five of the less senior Leprano, taking a trip with the two to help protect them by guarding the forests.  
  
"We bid you farewell young Lords." Spoke one of the Leaders, "We will keep Burning Wind ready for action and fully stocked for when you need her, and if you call for her or troops she or they will come to your aid as is your right by heritage and by our trust in you."  
  
Harry just nodded and turned to the Lord of the Leprano, Jaoana, "Goodbye friend," The flaming feline said. "Remember what we said, it is about time that the Leprano reappeared in your world, do not worry to show the ones you know these five or yourself and if trouble arises call us and we shall come to your aid."  
  
With that Harry and Matt bowed to the crowd who bowed back and Harry waved a hand in front of Matt and himself and a black circle of light appeared and Harry followed by Matt then the Leprano stepped through and left it to close after them.  
  
* * *  
  
[Hogwarts]  
  
Outside of the enormous castle seven shapes walked out of the air. The sun had set and the lights of the building barely illuminated them as five of the smaller shapes bounded into the nearest part of the forest and the other two quickly walked up to the castle.  
  
Inside the castle Dumbledore had almost finished his announcements when the doors opened. The students were shocked at the sight that came through the door. Many gasped at the sight of the black, seven foot long body of a panther that had the grace of a killer. The tail sweeping the floor silently behind it. It's master stood by its shoulder with an aura of power around him.  
  
"Ahh, it looks like our new Defence teacher has arrived," came the headmasters voice, "Students this is Matthew Solem, you should give him the respect that you give all your older teacher even though he seems not much older then yourself. He is well versed in defending against the dark arts."  
  
With that Matt and Harry left the hall to seek peace and settle into their new office and rooms.  
  
* * *  
  
The morning Harry woke early on and swiftly changed into his Lepra form, the flames licked at his form giving a gentle tickling feeling. There was no heat unless he wished for it. He leapt quickly onto his sleepy friend and licked at his chin in the way that he knew annoyed Matt to no end. With an undignified yelp Harry found himself on the floor again but couldn't help but laugh at the look of disgust on his friend's face.  
  
"Come on Harry, we should get to breakfast and you can scare the students," Matt said after he had changed with a flick of the staff on his finger, easily transfigured into a ring, so that students didn't realise that their teacher couldn't do magic on his own.  
  
It wasn't long before Matt or Professor Solem was seated in the Great Hall. Most of the students were already seated and some already half way through their meals. It was surprisingly quiet for the hundreds gathered in the room but the defence teacher wasn't surprised. The students sat wearily, careful of the prowling predator as it stalked the room. Matt almost laughed aloud when his best friend stopped silently behind a Slytherin third year and the rather short girl screamed loudly as she fled the room.  
  
"Professor Solem!" Came the irritated voice of the Potions Master, "Would you please restrain that jumped up feline you call a familiar!" Snickers came from the Slytherin table and even some of the Ravenclaws. Before Matt could respond Harry had gathered the muscles in his legs and sprung in a graceful arc to land on the table in front of Snape. Gasps were heard throughout the hall at the sight of a Black Panther jumping the twenty- metre distance but they quickly quieted as they watched.  
  
Harry bristled at his old Potions teacher. Damn sod he thought as he landed on the table scattering the mans drink across the table and spilling its contents across both Snape and the transfiguration teacher. Neither moved to clean it up as it soaked into their robes. Snape visibly paled as Harry snarled in the mans face.  
  
Finally Snape gathered enough courage to speak up. "Solem, get this fur ball of yours out of my face. I thought you said it was trained!"  
  
Harry snorted in his head knowing that Matt would pick it up. //What do you say you introduce the term Leprano to these wizards Harry and show them what it means to face one in its true form? The Lord did give you permission and this guy deserves a scare.//  
  
Harry laughed before a plan formed in his head. He directed his thoughts outwards and called out to those listening.  
  
//FUR BALL!// He beared his teeth slightly wider //How dare you speak against the race of Cats in such a way.//  
  
Snape and everyone in the room were floored as they worked out where the sound came from. "The cat can talk, how is that possible Solem, it's just a stupid animal!"  
  
//Just an animal?// Harry laughed and without warning jump upwards and away from the table with grace and power. In mid flight he changed to the Winged version and the as he landed he shifted to his true from.  
  
//Severus Snape, I, a Lord of the Leprano challenge you to what you wizards refer to as a duel.// The room bristled with emotion as people stared at the beautiful flaming form of the Leprano that now stood with lightning bolts caressing the flames as it challenged the Potions Master.  
  
All Snape could do was stutter, but finally collected himself enough to stand. Still with his assurance in his mind of his ability to beat this parlor trick he swept down to the gap between the now filled tables. Dumbledore resigned to the fight, he knew little of the race of Leprano's but knew them to be wise and devoted to the light. He glanced at the new Defence teacher and met the young mans eyes. The man looked into his eyes but the ages professor couldn't penetrate the young mans mind. He nodded slightly and stood and with a wave of his hands the floor rose and the tables moved sideways to allow the newly formed platform to set itself.  
  
The Lepra stalked onto the platform and waited for the Professor. It didn't take long for the man to walk confidently up onto the stage but it was the time that Harry needed to scan the mind of his old professor and find out what he needed.  
  
//Matt, if you would.// he spoke only to matt, using their mind link rather then the telepathy of the Lepra.  
  
Matt stood up at the front, "Let this Duel to Exile come to be. Severus Snape do you agree to the consequences of this Duel?" Snape nodded even though a Duel to Exile was normal, nobody expected him to agree. The Loser would not be able to return to the place of battle till the winner decided it.  
  
Matt paused, to commence the battle he had to ask the same question of Harry out loud and that meant giving away his identity.  
  
//I also agree to the terms of a Duel to Exile and except the consequences of this agreement.// though it was an old method it still held in the eyes of the onlookers. Matt glanced at the old headmaster and saw that he had picked up on the fact that the Leprano was still unnamed and that he had refused to give the name.  
  
"Then, BEGIN!" Matt yelled.  
  
Barely a second passed before the Lightning on Harry's back flew into the air. Snape made the mistake of watching it go before he realised as it disappeared that it was just a distraction. He looked back at the Lepra to see it gone. Not invisible. He heard the growl as he spun around.  
  
"God this cat hates me." He muttered to himself as he yelled out, "Glacio!"  
  
A stream of ice shot from his wand as he danced back but even from the distance of ten metres he felt the heat of the Lepra radiate outwards and his spell turn to vapour.  
  
Useless he thought, he needed something better. He'd realised from the start that he mistook the creature for the power it possessed and now he was beginning to doubt his ability to win this battle. He doubted that the headmaster would allow him to be exiled but he didn't want to lose in front of the students. He lack of concentration cost him.  
  
A loud roar of fury from Harry and a stream of fire arced the stage circled by no less then three Lightning bolts. Snape didn't get the wits up to dodge and the blast hit him in the chest. He seemed frozen there for a second before he flew into the air carried on the blast of heat and electricity. He hit the wall with a crunch and was held there for another second before he hit the floor when the attack let up.  
  
Harry pulled in the flames and then the wings so he stood on the platform looking like a slightly large Panther. A couple of seventh years Slytherins were moving to their head of year. Harry roared briefly and it froze the two boys who were in effect a year older then Harry. He leapt up and jumped over to the doors where Snape lay. His jaws open to show his teeth, the sharp teeth open.  
  
//Wake up Snape// Harry spoke sternly, //This fight is lost by you, but you will never get the grace of exile.// He spoke aloud for everyone to here and his jaws clamped onto the mans wand arm breaking the wand in the process as well as his two lower bones in his arm.  
  
//Harry, its over, don't kill him// Matt's voice was tinged with anxiety. He could feel the emotions of betrayal and anger and murderous envy from across the link.  
  
//This man is nothing more then a traitor and he'll die as one.//  
  
* * *  
  
What do you think of that then...sorry to all you Snape lovers out there, but I don't really like him all that much and not many stories have him being a totally bad guy. That my logic for it, would love to hear your views on it though. I won't change it though.  
  
Thanks as always to my reviewers and I am sorry for the massive delay.  
  
Rogue1615; That's how I like to have the Muggles, People do normally have them running around screaming or just dying, its about time to have some sort of resistance from them. 


	14. A Ghost Ship

Catcher

A/N: Sorry for the really long wait, everything has been a bit hectic but now I am in the world of uni and I happen to have loads of time free at the moment cause my course isn't that demanding compared to some others. Anyway, on with the story.

Chapter 15; A Ghost Ship

Hogwarts

__

'I thought you told me he was a spy for Dumbledore though?' Matt was confused at his friends sudden change of view towards the man.

__

'I searched his mind before the battle, he has never been loyal to the light!' As Harry said this he released his grip on the man's arm and backed off a step, calmed by the waves of reassurance coming through the link from Matt even as the latter headed over to them.

As Matt came to a stop to Harry's left, Albus Dumbledore's voice came from behind him.

"I must insist that the Battle is over and that this man will need to visit the Infirmary as soon as possible professor." He said as he tried to walk towards Severus.

He was blocked by Matt's arm. _'Harry? How sure are you?'_

__

'Positive!'

__

'You cant kill him though, we could use the information from him.'

__

'True, we'll send him to Atlanta, they can hold him for a while and keep him alive until we get what we need from him. Besides it's about time you got your initiation and I reappeared don't you think?'

With that decided Matt turned to address the aged Headmaster. "This man is a traitor, Headmaster, by rights my familiar should kill him."

"He is not a traitor," he paused to throw up a silencing ward before continuing, "That's absurd, he is my spy in Voldemort's ranks!"

"What proof do you have of that?"

__

'Enough,' Harry spoke into both in their minds rather then over the link just as the headmaster was thinking of the right response, _'I will show you what I saw and then we will be leaving with him for a while, I trust you can deal with the lessons we will miss.'_

Just as Albus started to nod his eyes glazed over as images flickered through his mind. Undeniable proof of his spy's treachery. He was stunned.

After was seemed like hours but was in fact only about a minute the headmaster came back around. Severus, on the floor, also came around and tried to talk but a snarl from Harry silenced him.

"Very well, take him," He spoke to Matt then turned to Severus, "I trusted you old friend, you disappoint me."

"We will leave within the hour, we must wait for our transportation and we shall do so outside." Matt spoke at last to Albus before casting a levitation spell on the form of Severus Snape and leaving the hall with Harry in the lead and Snape in tow.

In the Entrance Hall they ran into five of the AWD guards and Matt spoke briefly to one about making contact with the base's commander. In reply he was handed a radio but just looked at it curiously.

Harry laughed at his bewildered face but helped his friend out by sending a split second burst of knowledge to teach him how to use this particular piece of Muggle inventiveness.

Soon Matt, Harry and the floating form of Snape met up with General Granger at the gates to Hogwarts. They needed a dock for the Burning Wind to moor up to when it arrived and the Muggle Base had built just such Docks and was the only place nearby with the capability to hold the Burning Wind.

General Granger had briefly called the Headmaster, who had quickly became a friend to him, to ensure that this man and his familiar were trust-worthy and after being assured had allowed them to enter his base, with him as their guide.

During the fifteen minute walk to the Base. Harry used his powers to talk to the City of Light. It was very confusing to do as in essence he was almost two months behind when he had left the City. He left instructions to them to not mention it to their other selves but to have the ship ready to port to Hogwarts.

Rather then confuse matters they were to port the Burning Wind to them the day after Harry and Matt had left the City so another time spell would be used to get the Ship into the right time. The specifics were starting to confuse Harry so he told Damiane, the female ruler he was talking with, to sort most of it out.

As they walked up the paths to the Base and through the gates, Harry saw the confused looks of those around them. A wizard, a panther and a floating, yet awake, body was a strange sight for anyone.

"Welcome to Fort Merlin!"

"Interesting name," laughed Matt, but he couldn't help agreeing that it was suitable as Merlin was a wizard famous to both Muggles and Wizards and therefore a common link between the two.

"I believe it would be best to head straight to the Docks as your transport will be here in about ten minutes. I am afraid that it looks a bit worse for wear as they are still building it up."

"That's quite alright General."

Not ten minutes later they stood on the wide metal jetty that sat calmly in the water fifty foot from the shore in a T shape. Matt and Harry saw the first signs of their ship before the General and the Royal Navy Commander that had joined them. The water in the centre of the Lake went impossibly smooth for a few seconds before a shape started to appear. This method was more discreet than the Orders porting system as it didn't involve the 100 foot wide portal of colours. The Burning Wind was in herself magical, from the keel to the tip of the Masts. She transported herself.

Before the General had recovered from the ghostly form of the ship, her disguise, he felt the light touch of Matt's hand on his shoulder. He felt a spell wash over him briefly and saw the ghostly image in front of him become clear as day. A beautiful, yet deadly ship sat before him almost in dock.

She was a dark red colour with Golden rims to her many portholes. As large as the Victory that many Muggle's had seen. She boasted 100 canons set along her sides. Forty-five along her broadside, stretched over four decks and 150 feet of length. The other ten guns sat, six on her stern and four on her forecastle to give fire either in front or behind her.

Her four masts sat bare of sails as her lines were thrown down to waiting Royal Naval ratings, some of which had to be prodded by their work mates.

Matt spent a little time casting the spell required to see through her deception so that the rest of the onlookers didn't think they were receiving a ghost ship into their harbour. To any normal person she looked like a ghost ship making it difficult to see her from above or from far away, and it was enough to scare many people away from attacking her. Soon all those in the Docks could see her clearly but it would wear off and only those that added a drop of their blood to her Decking could always see her as Matt and Harry had done long before along with all her crew.

"One day General Granger, if she will take you, we will invite you onboard, however not this time, as we must make haste." Matt said in farewell as the three people made their way onto the ship, two willing, one not.

As soon as they were onboard Matt turned to the Master At Arms, "Lock this man into the Brig and have men keep watch over him!"

"Aye, Lord Dragon!" The Elf went to his orders, not noticing the glare from his Lord. On the City's Warships all titles were used unless the people involved were friends, Matt knew it would be impolite to insist upon the use of his actual name.

Matt and Harry, still in his Black Lepra form minus the wings, turned aft and climb the two sets of stairs to reach the Quarterdeck where they knew the Captain would be waiting for their orders.

They had been aboard the Burning Wind once before since they arrived in the Magic Realm. They had joined her on a five day trip to a few islands of the coast that the City of Light lay on. They had joined her on a mission to monitor the Dark that was rising even on the Magic Realm. The world that the City of Light was built on, Harry remembered, was the one that Alandria had mentioned a while ago that the order hadn't been able to reach. The reason why was that the world was there but couldn't be stepped on as it was out of the normal realm. The creator of magic had used his powers to shift the world out of the normal realm in order to stop trespassers. So whilst they knew it was there, portals couldn't be opened to get there and the few planets that were technologically advanced enough for space travel couldn't land there.

They didn't really get to know the Elven Captain in that time as he had been too busy, but they knew he was a man that stuck to the regulations and that was the reason he was in charge of the City's largest Battleship, and the Flagship of the twenty strong Light Battle Fleet.

The Captain, Sea Lord Balakay, answered only to the rulers of the City Of Light, The Battle Fleet Commander and Matt and Harry as the Lords of the City. He saluted them as they walked onto the Quarterdeck and Matt returned the salute out of compliment.

"With your permission, my Lords?" He spoke to both Lords.

Matt nodded in response and turned to the Map with Harry striding at his side. The Captain started the calls to 'Let Slip' and to set the sails.

__

'A nice visual ward would be nice now Matt!' Came Harry's voice through the link.

__

'Oh sorry Harry!' He tried to sound apologetic but couldn't stifle the slight laugh. Even as such a powerful creature, the Leprano were still Cats and hated water, if Harry stayed as the Cat he would feel sick. It only took Matt a few seconds to throw up the wards necessary to hide Harry's human form from view.

"Thanks mate!" Came Harry's voice as he morphed fluidly into his human self. "Now then, where to?"

"I was going to leave that up to you, I don't know this world at all. I know it is the one where the Order is closest to but there isn't much of a link left between your world and Atlanta. How do we get there?"

"To be honest I don't know, the last Crysti was a member of the Order and built up the wards so that other Crysti couldn't sense it but I picked up from the AWD Guards minds that Valice and Alandria were at Hogwarts about an hour before us yesterday, caused quite the trouble I found out. I thought that they would have covered their tracks with a memory charm or something. They should be on the Sea Dragon still heading back. They wont port on this planet to reach Atlanta because you can just sail to it if you know how."

"So…"

Harry spoke to the Captain as well as to Matt, "We need to get to the Atlantic Ocean and then rendezvous with the Sea Dragon to get to Atlanta."

"Aye, My Lord!"

"Oh yes," continued Harry, "Try not to scare the Sea Dragon too much Captain. We don't need proof of your reputation in combat!"

Awsome Twin; I was thinking huge entrance into a fight actually.

Kelzery; I am really sorry for the long wait, I feel really guilty, but things came up and unfortunately this dropped in my priorities! Please forgive me!

Horsecrzy; Any ideas what else his Lepra could do?? Email me if you like!

Wytil; I needed to show proof of the Leprano's power because they are really peaceful and would normally be subtle, I wanted to prove that they could be devastating. Hope you don't mind but Snape really never is evil and he is almost the most likely to be so in reality.

Athenakitty; Harry has killed already, he isn't the perfect non-siner, cause in reality noone in a war can avoid deaths, I hate to say it but it is true you can barely ever really solve a war without it coming to bloodshed. Noone sue me for that, I hate wars with a passion.

To, Spectra2, Maleficus-Lupus, Lady Phoenix Slytherin, mjk306 and gaul1, thanks so much, all you reviews warm my heart.

Please review, please, please, please J


	15. The Burning Wind

Catcher

Chapter 15; The Burning Wind

The Burning Wind

Luckily Hogwarts Lake wasn't that far from the coast line so The Burning Wind was free to use another of her abilities to leave the Lake and greet the open ocean. She, like the Order's ships could transport or port from one world to the next, the only difference being that Burning Wind could transport from anywhere on one world to anywhere on another world. Whereas the portals generally used by the Order were not able to change the location around the globe. If they left from the equator on the dark side of a planet, they would arrive on the equator of the dark side of the planet they were going to.

Also because of all worlds gravitational pulls using portals or transportation spells large enough to move ships in order to get from one place to another on the same planet was impossible. Individuals could use smaller porting spells like the ones taught at the order to move around a planet but they were not powerful enough to transport a ship.

Therefore Burning Wind had to travel across ten miles of land in order to settle into the ocean. And that was one of her more powerful abilities, to hover. It was a strain on her magic but Harry thought that he could always recharge her if needed.

Harry and Matt leaned on the Quarterdeck's railings looking outwards and downwards at the small Muggle coastal village below them as they passed down their main high street on the way to the shoreline.

The day was a misty day but still rather warm and the village wasn't short of tourists using the beach and shopping down the wide street. The ship had glided out of the mountains and through the mist looking as frightening as she should do. A ships bell tolling periodically due to the mist had been the first warning for the many muggles populating the street but it was the ghost ship's Bowsprit that had cleared the streets to the sounds of screaming. Matt and Harry had laughed but felt slightly guilty. They weren't bothered too much about the fact that the next day they would be in both the muggle and Wizarding newspapers. If their enemy wanted to attack the ship then they could.

The ship crashed into the waters of the coastline at ten knots pushing a bow wave over her forecastle before she settled into the water calmly.

It wasn't long before they were doing a steady twenty knots in a south west direction. The Sea Dragon had a day head start on them and they planned to catch up with her soon. Harry using his Crysti ability had found her to be almost fifty miles west of the coast of Ireland. They were obviously in no great hurry to get back into Atlanta and that suited Harry perfectly. In two days Harry's ship would catch up to Valice and Alandria's ship.

Two days later

Harry had spent a lot of time in the nests at the front of the ship. In his position he had watched the rapidly retreating shores of Scotland and then Ireland in time. He had used his Crysti ability to track the Sea Dragon and also look out over the world around him. H couldn't sense Atlanta at all and wondered at the skill of the last Crysti who had hidden it so well all those years past. He had easily found the magical pulses that represented Voldermort and also could sense Dumbledore's power in Hogwarts even though it was slightly hidden by the castles wards. He had looked specifically for his double, wondering what it was and who could copy his power and signature so well. He had come up short and realised that the man must have the Crysti ability also. Voldermort would be easy to defeat compared to this unknown man.

Harry was pulled abruptly from his thoughts by a nudge from the lookout beside him. The man brought down the telescope he was looking through and handed it to Harry.

"Right in front of us My Lord." The man said quietly, as if it would vanish if he spoke too loudly.

Harry thanked the man and brought the eyepiece up to his eye and pointed the scope out to the horizon. There on the horizon, right where the man had said it was, Harry could make out a bunch of white sails. Checking quickly with his Crysti ability he agreed that it was the Sea Dragon.

"It's the Sea Dragon all right!" Harry told the look out giving his un-worded permission.

The man nodded briefly before looking aft at the Quarterdeck.

"Sea Dragon sighted on the Horizon, dead ahead!" He yelled, not full volume but the sound travelled far on the silent ship. The crew were all below decks eating. Harry needed less to eat and less sleep then he used to before going to the City of Light, he remembered Valice once mentioning to him that with higher power levels he would need less sleep. Harry's magic kept him healthier with less need for supplements.

Harry swung down the rigging to the cries as they echoed from one section of the ship to the next. He got to the Quarterdeck at the same time as Matt made it onto the deck. Matt like Harry needed less food and sleep then normal due to his link with Harry and had been taking a short nap downstairs.

"What do you think then Commander Pelaty?" Harry spoke to the duty watch officer.

"We should catch up to them in about six hours, My Lords!" he replied after checking the maps and their speed and after guessing the Sea Dragons speed. "They are going almost the same speed as us My Lord."

Harry cursed silently, but Matt still heard it through the link. "What's the matter Harry?"

"Its nothing right now Matt." He turned to the commander, "Consult with the Captain first but I would like all sails used. I want to close that gap as much as possible before they notice us. Is that clear Commander?"

"Aye Sir!" He turned slightly to a lower ranking officer, "Watch the ship, Peltak!"

"Aye Sir!" The relatively young elf replied.

"With your leave, My Lords?" Spoke Pelaty to Matt and Harry.

"Of course," Matt replied moving to allow the Commander down the stairs to see the Captain.

Five minutes later the crew were busy at sail setting stations, setting any sails that weren't already set. The ship sped up to almost twenty five knots, only possible because of the designers of the ship. It was the fastest she could have done with the wind in it current position.

An hour later, they had closed the gap only by a little. Harry rejoined the Captain on the Quarterdeck who it was now his time to command his ship.

"Captain, what's the speed of the Sea Dragon?"

"Our lookouts agree that she is running at twenty to twenty-one knots, My Lord."

"She has sped up a bit then?" Matt spoke as he walked up the stairs to the helm.

"Yes, My Lord, The wind has increased slightly, we have also sped up by not by as much."

"Do you think they have spotted us yet?" Asked Matt, he knew that they normally didn't use a stern lookout on the Sea Dragon, so it was a case of someone happening to look over the stern and see the ghost ship.

"We do not believe so, My Lord, however they were flying all sails when we saw them."

"Does that mean they cant speed up if they see us anyway?" Asked Matt.

"Yes, it…"

"No," Interrupted Harry, "they can, and I expect they will when the spot us."

"What do you mean Harry?"

"Never mind," Harry brushed the question off, he was hoping they couldn't speed up. "Captain, can you not get any more speed?"

"No, My Lord, we cant use you magic to change the winds because the ship neutralises the use of elemental powers."

Harry of course already knew this.

Harry leaned on the railing in front of the helm and fell into his Crysti powers to reach out to the other ship, Matt seeing this grasped the staff he always carried on his hip and joined Harry's mind. Both would now see what Harry felt.

Harry first clue, after about half an hour, was a great amount of surprise and anxiety on the other ship. The thing that summed it up for Harry and Matt was when, to Harry's mind, she vanished.

Matt gasped at the sudden loss of the ship. Harry fell out of his ability smoothly and relaxed when his eyes found the ship in front of him.

"They've spotted us Captain!" Matt yelled at the Captain.

Harry kept his normal magical sensors focused on the Sea Dragon. _'I can feel the wards smacking up,'_ he said to Matt's mind.

Harry was muttering to himself inaudibly to anyone else, but Matt could hear it in his head.

_'Please don't, please don't,' _he said over and over and then after about a minute. _'Damn it!"_

_"God mate, don't yell into my head! What's wrong?"_

"Elementals!" he spoke aloud.

"What do you mean?"

"They have elementals on board, Water and Wind!"

A cry was heard from the nests, "The Sea Dragon is speeding up!"

"Damn it! Captain, they're using elementals to speed themselves up." Harry said to the Captain.

"This is what you meant earlier?" Asked Matt.

"Mmhmm, they're using wind to change the wind and increase it, and they are using water to change the current to suit them. I cant counter it because I cant go against the Order and your not powerful enough to counter four elementals." He said to Matt.

"What can we do then?" asked the captain. "They are doing almost thirty-two knots!"

Harry thought for a minute. "Matt, I think we need you powers."


	16. A Dragon's Battle

Catcher

Chapter 16; A Dragon's Battle

Sea Dragon

"The sails cant take this strain for much longer sir!" called the Sea Dragon's Bosun. As if on cue the foremast's largest sail spilt down the middle, the ship lurched at the sudden loss of speed.

"We have no idea what that ship will do if it catches up to us, we have to get to Atlanta before it reaches us. This is our only choice." Alandria said to the Captain.

"Respectfully, if we destroy all our sails then we cant run anywhere!" The captain responded even as the crew jumped into replacing the torn sail with the spare under the directions of the Bosun.

Alandria turned to Valice, "Have the elementals ease up on the winds, save their strength so they can continue longer," she watched the other ship for a while, its ghostly form making it difficult to see. "It doesn't seem to be speeding up like it should if it wanted to catch us up." She spoke this time to the Captain.

He moved next to her and looked through his spyglass. The image of a ship could be seen but not her details, the ghostly image scared many of his crew. "She's big, I can tell you that, and that normally means slow, but she isn't as slow as you would expect for a ship that size. She was catching up on us before we resorted to changing the winds." He sighed, "Without cheating the elements, she is both bigger and faster than us, we cant afford for her to catch us up if she is hostile. She managed to close from the horizon to the three-quarter mark without being noticed and must have followed us, which would have taken a very skilled captain and crew. We could do with a better look."

"I think I can help there, captain," Valice spoke for the first time in a while, he stepped up to the desk on the quarterdeck and pulled his wand. Closing his eyes to concentrate on what he wanted he enunciated the spell carefully.

__

"Imagus Distelle!"

The language was not often used and lost, the meaning wasn't known to many. But the purpose was obvious when smoke appeared to swirl around the table in a tight vortex before forming into a shape, that of a ships hull and then the deck formed and then the shape of four tall masts. Then the detail was added in, quickly the sails were formed then the gun holes and deck guns could be seen. The last touch was the addition of several crew members but for some reason only two appeared on the deck before the image flashed and the men disappeared. The ship itself remaining for show. She tossed about on the top of the waves identically to the one that sat astern of the Sea Dragon.

The captains only response to the sight in front of him was a low whistle of appreciation.

"What do you think Captain?" Valice asked the Captain, showing his ignorance to the structures and strength of ship types.

"The Sea Dragon is thought to be one of the strongest ships to have ever sailed in these waters and is the strongest I have seen since a skirmish in Kristoshia almost ten years ago. But looking at this ship chasing us I wonder." He bent closer to the smoky form almost identical in all but size to the original. "She has 18lb culverines by the looks of it, best guns to have in a fight but slower to reload over our own 16 pounders. But that's assuming she needs to reload in a fight before she wins. She's equipped with one hundred guns, so that's a very nasty broadside." He was almost talking to himself, but the order members nearby were all listening intently.

"What do you think of our chances in a fight?" Asked Alandria who couldn't help but figure they would end up in one.

"In a straight up fight, I honestly think we will end up as little more then a few splinters. But maybe if we had the wind advantage and could get off a few broadsides onto her without presenting ourselves as targets for her own broadside we may at least put up a fight."

"What's the chances of that being the case?" Alandria kept up the questioning, wanting to know exactly what they were facing.

"With our elementals we can gain the wind advantage, they don't seem to be using elementals to catch up so I don't think that they have any. But chances are that if she manages to catch us up, and if we tire out the elementals now then she will before we reach Atlanta, then she will turn as soon as possible and sink us before she is in range of our own guns."

"What do you suggest then, Tom?"

"We need to just keep going faster than her for now, try to avoid a fight for as long as we can."

"Then we do that! Captain, just make sure that we stay slightly faster then them, use as little of the elementals power as possible."

"Aye sir!"

Burning Wind

A lookout's call echoed down to the deck.

"The Sea Dragon has slowed! She's still gaining distance on us though!"

"She's going to try to keep the distance till Atlanta then," decided the Captain. "We need her to Heave To, she has to surrender, we only have four hours till she sights Atlanta and then she can use its own weather controls to outrun us and slow us down."

Harry turned to Matt, "Your turn then mate, scare them good!" He laughed as he thought of Valice and Alandria facing what they were about to

Matt pulled his staff out and grasped it with both hands so that he could use Harry's reserves to strengthen his Dragons, knowing full well that they would face a barrage of spells from the Sea Dragon. Even if the ships canons were all but useless against flying creatures.

Slowly, Matt begun to hum, slowly getting louder till stopping abruptly, he began to glow a red, green and blue as he summoned his three dragons to him. In all there was ten dragons all a different colour, as the summoner, in this case Matt became more powerful through experience he would face the next dragon up the ladder. There were Blue, Green, Red, Brown, Grey, Bronze, Silver, Black, Gold and White Dragons, going up in power in that order. Matt had been judged worthy by the Blue, Green and Red Dragons in turn since meeting Harry and had yet to summon the Red one more then twice, and never in conflict.

Three flashes of colour rippled through the clouds above and the Dragons had appeared. Harry who had always loved Dragons watched in awe as they dropped like rocks only to open their mighty wings to hover just over the masts. Before flying towards the Sea Dragon.

Sea Dragon

The few order members and the Captain still stared at the image projected in front of them, but jumped back as, in the image, three blurs appeared and then disappeared. Valice and Alandria, along with the Captain and a few of the crew and Order members spun around to see three shapes flying towards them at great speed.

They couldn't work out what they were for sure but the Lookouts on the Aft Mast were faster to work it out.

"Three Dragons dead aft!"

"What type?" shouted back the Captain.

"I cant tell!"

The captain turned to ask Valice to try to recognise them, but he ran out of time, just as he opened his mouth to speak, the three forms flew overhead, just clearing the masts. The downdraft from their wings flapping the sails briefly as they circled once.

"Impossible!" Breathed Valice, being the mythology expert he had an idea what they were.

"What are they Valice?" Asked Alandria.

"If I'm right they are the deceased races of the most powerful dragons to ever roam the realms. They died out just after the Order was founded but were rare before that as they were hunted. Legend suggests that the very last and most powerful of each colour sacrificed their bodies at the very end in order to preserve their minds and powers and one day return to the worlds to fight. They were called the Prism Dragons."

As he spoke the three Dragons, now discernable as being Blue, Green and Red Dragons, slightly smaller but faster than Earth's normal Dragon species, had completed their tight circle and were now hovering around the ship beating their immense wings to stay in the air without the aid of thermal currents. The elementals struggled to keep the air currents in one direction against the down drafts that wrapped the sails around the masts. When the Captain realised it was pointless to keep trying he called for the elementals to stop, to conserve their power.

The ship, now devoid of the extra boost lurched as it slowed with the Dragon's drafts cancelling out the natural wind.

The Dragons just seemed to hover in the air, the Red Dragon, noticeably the most powerful of the three present sat just above and in front of the Forecastle, with the Green and Blue Dragon hovering to either side of the Beam.

"They're not attacking, what do you think?" Alandria asked Valice, knowing that he had faced dragons before in the past.

"I don't know, we could try a volley of stunners and see what they do." Suggested Valice.

To say that was pointless is an understatement, over sixty _'stupefy'_s leaped into the air, approximately twenty at each. Most were blocked by the Scaly surface of the Dragons but a few hit the Dragons with effect. The dragons roared with the effort to overcome the blasting but only fell a few metres before recovering themselves and climbing again to their own places.

Valice yelled to everyone aboard to concentrate fire on the Red Dragon. With a resounding _'Stupefy' _almost eighty stunners, including some from the regular crew, impacted with the single foremost Dragons.

It cried out in anger as it was struck but remained conscious. Only possible because of the additions of Matt and Harry's magical essence around it. But it couldn't maintain its flight and fell slowly to the deck. The forecastle rapidly cleared of crew as the creature landed. Its wings flapping once before its claws scratched into the wooden deck. It reared its head back and with a loud and ferocious roar it blew an infernal of flames into the air above it.

There was nothing much that Valice and Alandria could think to do, it was obvious by the Dragon's reactions that they wanted the Sea Dragon to surrender.

"We have no choice Captain, order for a 'heave to,' and dip the ensign."

"Aye Sir's" It was obvious that he wasn't entirely happy with Alandria's order and wouldn't normally take it but he didn't want his ship to be torched either.

The ships sails were quickly stricken, slower than was usual for the well seasoned crew but with three dragons watching their every move they couldn't help being slower than was normal.

The Navigator turned to the Captain, "The chasing ship is now only half an hour till it meets us sir."

In the confusion noone had kept an eye on the ship following them, but in the time it took to lose against the Dragons it had caught them up rapidly. They past the last minutes by watching as the ship caught them up. It was easily fifty per cent larger then them and as it got within canon shot it was obvious that they couldn't win a fight against her. To prove the point one of the unknown ships canons through a round shot across the back of the Sea Dragon in warning.

As if on cue, the three Dragons beat their wings a few times before retreating to the other ship where they settled gently on the widened railings around the Quarter deck.

As the ship pulled up off the Sea Dragons beam it heaved to and gently settled into the water fifty feet to the Sea Dragons Port side. Valice stared at the carving of the ship and the sight of the water on the other side as the illusion worked. He couldn't help but think that he should recognise the elaborate carvings but couldn't put his finger on it. As he was pondering this, he registered movement on the ghost ships deck and then pulled himself back to reality as he felt a strange magic searching around him. Again he thought that he should recognise the strange touch.

Two figures suddenly leapt across the fifty foot gap and as their cloaked figures landed with the thumps of heavy boots, fifty or so men swung across the gap from the other ships rigging to land almost everywhere around the Sea Dragon. In a couple of seconds most of the crew and almost all of the order had found themselves without their wands. A few of the fastest or a few that came running from below found themselves in very brief fights but always ending with an arrow or knife pressed to their throats.

On the quarter deck there was a brief struggle as five of these intruders disarmed all but Valice, Alandria and the Captain. The two figures had their undivided attention and another surge of magic from one hit Valice's fine tuned mental sensors and suddenly Valice knew who one of these figures were. Even with the hood over the face he was sure of it, and was both shocked and relieved. These actions weren't that of the crazed lunatic running around and he also had worked out the carvings were that of Elves and the men invading his ship were also Elves.

"Harry?" He managed to whisper, Alandria and Tom's heads both snapped to the slightly taller of the two cloaked figures before the aforementioned man lowered his hood to show the grinning features of their lost comrade.

Before he could be greeted however Alandria rushed forwards to hug her trainee and then as Harry relaxed into it, Alandria stepped back and a resounding crack echoed across the deck as she slapped him hard across the face.


	17. Return to Atlantis

Catcher

Chapter 17; Return to Atlantis.

"Hey!" Harry cried out in indignation.

"You deserved that for disappearing on us!" Alandria retorted.

"It's not like I had much choice in the matter!" Harry deadpanned, "shut up Matt!"

This was directed at the figure to his side who was laughing almost silently at the treatment of his new best friend. It was the first time that the group really took him in.

"The name's Matt Solem, I believe I am the one that you were searching for before we vanished. Harry found me on the ship just before we disappeared."

Valice was the first to find his voice again, "Were they your Dragon's then?"

"That's right," he replied to the older man, "speaking of which…" he turned and unseen to Alandria and Valice his eyes glowed briefly, flashing green, red and blue at almost the same time. The three Dragons pushed off of the railings on the Burning Wind and flew straight up through the clouds. To anyone who watched carefully could see brief flashes of colour in the clouds. Matching the colour of the Dragons.

"What are they, how can you control them like that?" Valice asked.

"This is not the place to discuss such things." Harry interrupted before Matt could answer them, "It is a shame we had to resort to using them to catch up with you. The Burning Wind," he motioned behind him to the larger ship, "is immune to Elemental Magic."

They spent a few minutes talking about anything, Matt went into the Captain's cabin below the Quarter deck to have a look at the local maps and talk to Valice about the legends of the Prism Dragon's. Harry chatted to Alandria and the Captain about the Elves and the Burning Wind's capabilities. But just a Tom was asking about how long she could stay out at sea without putting into a harbour, Harry's eyes glazed over slightly, he motioned for Tom to stay quiet for a sec.

It was about twenty seconds before he recovered, he spun around to look over the back of the ship. There not two miles distant was what he was looking for. A Demon Dancer, recognisable because of their six wings, splayed like a cockroach. But they were easy to defeat, it was the rider that worried Harry, Voldermort didn't have the knowledge to summon creatures like this, or control them for that matter. But he knew who did, or what did to be more precise.

He turned to the Captain. "Call your ship to Quarters Tom, and set your sails for full speed." The chaser was invisible but Harry could see through the cloaking because he could see the Magic woven into it.

__

'Matt! We're leaving!"

'I know, I'm coming, I saw it too!"

Harry turned and leapt to his own ship, even through all the shouting and alarms on the Sea Dragon. Matt landed beside him seconds later while Harry was giving out the order for General Quarters to their own Captain.

Half a minute later the two ships were picking up speed, the Sea Dragon not using elemental powers so they could keep together.

Harry paused only long enough in his preparations to send the images of their chaser to Alandria, he own mental telepathy strong enough to sort the high speed images he sent.

"It's him Matt!" Harry said, not minding that the Elves could here, they had all been briefed on the creature.

"What are we going to do, we don't want to fight that thing this soon. We need better timing, if that thing is as powerful as you then we could lose the ships. We'd be stranded, the Elves cant apparate like we can." Matt said.

Harry turned to the Captain, "Can The Burning Wind's porting abilities be spread to port the Sea Dragon as well?"

"No, My Lord, but if we port it would attract too much attention without the Hogwart's wards to cover us."

"Don't worry about that, the Darkest creature on the world is only two miles behind us, we wouldn't be attracting too much more trouble. I will have to go with the Sea Dragon and apparate it myself and you port to Atlanta as soon as I know where it is." He turned to Matt, "you stay here, Port as soon as I send you the coordinates."

Matt only had time to nod before Harry leapt up and using Magic to aid his jump across the widening gap between the two ships.

"What do you plan to do Harry?"

"I need the coordinates for Atlanta, so that the Burning Wind can port directly there. I will apparate the Sea Dragon there myself."

After the coordinates were sent to Matt it wasn't long before the ghostly image sailing beside the Sea Dragon faded out soundlessly. The Sea Dragons slipped sideways slightly as the water rushed in to fill the space left by the disappearance of the large ship.

"Tell everyone to open up their Magical reserves, I will need to tap into them in order to gather the power needed for this. It would drain me too much otherwise." Harry told Alandria and the Captain who could carry out this message. Soon Harry was reaching out and slowly pulling a bit of Magic from everyone on board and storing in the air around him. The magic became visible to everyone as it built up till Harry was no longer visible through the blindingly white light around him. Then Harry pulled on the ship itself, placing a slight bit of Magic into everything. It was impossible to apparate a non-magical item. Even clothes became Magical in the end.

The ship flashed briefly white as the magic was put into it and then with an almighty crack the ship disappeared to its destination.

It reappeared with an identical crack just between the Burning Wind and the Domes of Atlanta. Almost all the crew and order members fell to their knees with disorientation of forced apparition. Valice managed to keep enough wits about him to catch Harry as he fell to the floor in a dead faint at the exertion of pulling so much Magic through his body in such a short time. The last words heard were the calls of Matt through the link as Matt felt his control over Harry's Magic disappear.

__

'Harry!'

A/N: I am sorry for the short chapter, I was going to make it longer but figured that the next part would be better left for another chapter. Please review, even if you read every chapter as it comes out, so that I know how many people are actually reading this. Also I am sorry for the delay but I have been helping out with a plot for another story for a friend. It's first chapter is being posted on my site until we get around to setting up one for her. Please give it a look and review! It should become a very good story.


	18. The Power of the Elves

Catcher

A/N: Thanks to my reviewers, especially those who have been reading since I started writing. You reviews are really touching, I wish I could write responses to reviews but I now am forced to write on a computer without the access to internet that I used to have and therefore cannot effectively read and respond to reviews whilst typing each chapter. If you do ask a question however or I have an explicit response to a review I will email you if you are a member and have an email address on your account page. Otherwise I will leave a note on the end of a chapter. Thanks again.

Chapter 18; The Power of the Elves.

Atlanta

After introductions between the Maesters and senior Order Members and Harry's team of Six Elves, including the Captain of the Burning Wind and of course Matt and himself, Harry began his longwinded explanation of what had happened over the last few months. Being extremely vague about the time difference so as not to confuse them, or even himself.

It wasn't long before the time to explain to the Maesters about the Danus.

When the conversation inevitably turned to Harry's impostor it was Matt who took over the explanation being better versed in the creature of legend.

"The creature was first sighted in my own world. It is potentially the most powerful creature in all of Creation. It's known to the Elven World as the 'Danus.' It is dangerous because, as is obvious, it takes on the form of any being it wishes. In this case it took on the form of probably the most powerful being to exist since the Lord Creator.

"As it is now, no one but Harry stands a chance of defeating it, it has his powers and all of his memories from before it took Harry's form, but none of the memories since, so including all of Harry Elven training which means that although it is capable of much more then Harry was capable of before Harry disappeared, it isn't nearly capable enough to defeat Harry now."

"Do you know whether it has allied with anything as of yet?" Asked Valdice Lexter.

"We did our research and although it seems to have allied with many of the native Demon Species on Earth it doesn't seem to be allied to Voldermort. That could only be a matter of time, but having Harry's memories and emotion towards Voldermort we believe it wont be that happy to ally with him."

"If this one appeared, could there be more?" Uric Den Lipstell asked.

"We don't really know, we know that this one came from Kristoshia but don't know why it decided to port to a new world all of a sudden." Harry answered that time.

It was Patla Grela who asked the obvious question. "If there is more than one around, then could we end up in a complete state of war against maybe hundred of these things, all with Harry's powers?"

Harry and Matt both paused but Harry spoke first. "We don't know, channelling the magic that I do would kill most known creatures. No human would be able to survive it, and only the most powerful magical creatures could do it like Griffins, Unicorns, the Leprano and Phoenixes. We really don't know whether they could all take my form or whether only this one is powerful enough to do so. We don't really know for sure that there are any more."

"Well let us hope that is the case." Valdice said.

Before anything else could be said one of the portraits on the left wall of the Maester's Chambers glowed silver before showing the face of a young man.

"What can we do for you, Jamie?" Asked Uric.

"We have an attack by ID 789 plus fifty others on Paris, Earth," replied the Officer of Watch in the control room.

"Is there any resistance?" Harry took over.

Jamie looked over at the Maesters and after receiving a nod spoke again, "There was a brief response by French City Security. The new joint Muggle/Wizard force. The Muggles did substantial damage but the Wizards didn't take down a single person before falling. There is no resistance left. Intelligence says that there is a gathering of troops at England's Order of the Phoenix Headquarters."

"I assume you would prefer to keep your order from clashing with members on Earth?" Harry turned to the Maesters again.

"We would prefer it, yes." Uric responded.

"Very well, with your leave myself and my crew will port there and help the attack as soon as we can."

"As you wish." All the Maesters nodded their agreement and nothing more would said. Harry, Matt and the six Elves ported from the room in their own ways.

Atlasa Doya was the fastest to react, she waved her hand across to the far wall and brought up two images, the one on the left showed Atlanta's Harbour whilst the one of the right showed an operatives face working in the control room.

Atlasa directed her voice at the woman, "Please get an image of the attack on Paris to here." She ordered, the woman only nodded before the screen became blurred and a few seconds later resolved to show a market square in Paris.

The lights of the attacking Death Eaters covered the screen with no opposition. The image was muted or they would have heard the screams of the Muggles and the blaring of an air raid siren.

Paris, Market Square

The Elves used soul magic to move to Paris, the walls of the buildings all along the east side of the Square rippled as twenty Elves walked out of the brick wall and stood silently in the shadows taking in the scene before them. None of their faces showed any emotion as they watched the horrors before them. Murder was happening across the whole square. Dying men crawled across the floor with the lingering effects of the cruciatius curse still running through their bodies.

As they found the leader of the Death Eaters. The Death Eater that the Order of the Zalot, now their allies, had named 'ID 789.' Harry and Matt appeared through portals of black. Their arrival also went unseen by the attackers.

The Leader of the Elven Contingent that had returned with Harry, turned his head slightly to where Harry stood beside him.

"Lord Catcher," He whispered only load enough for Harry and Matt to hear in the chaos around them. "Their leader is beside the statue."

Harry found the Death Eater, stood beside the half destroyed statue without his mask on. "Lucius Malfoy seems to be out of Azkaban then." He said in reply.

He then connected with the other Elves' minds and sent to them silently. _'Leave the Leader alive, but kill all the others. Stay in the shadows and use your arrows. On my command only.'_

He waited and saw the Elves move as one as they swung up the bows and strung their arrows to his left and right. He watched for a few minutes, he knew his own army wouldn't miss their targets and they would end this fight within half a minute but he wanted to wait for the Order of the Phoenix to arrive.

He wasn't disappointed too much when several pops were heard on the north side of the square. He knew he couldn't count the pops accurately but knew he needn't bother with the elves on his side.

__

'How many?' he spoke into the Elven Leaders mind.

"Thirty, my Lord Catcher," he whispered in return.

"It's a good thing that we are here then," He watched for another few seconds as spells began to fly in opposition.

__

'Take aim!' he said into the minds of his troops.

He waited another couple of seconds until he saw the first of the Order of the Phoenix members fall to a pain spell.

__

'Fire!' he shouted. He watched as the closest twenty Death Eaters fell to the attack, arrows embedded into their chests.

The Phoenix members and the Death Eaters all paused in their own fight to look at the shadows, in time to see another volley fly out and another twenty of the Death Eaters fell to the attack.

As the second volley flew from the darkness Harry brought up his hand and a pure black bow and arrow appeared in his hands. He took aim at Malfoy and as the last volley took down the last ten or so Death Eaters his own arrow was released and flew true and embedded itself into Lucius Malfoy's shoulder.

Malfoy's hand flew up to the arrow and tried once to pull it out but couldn't manage it. He then saw that his whole army was dead in less then thirty seconds. He tried to apparate but found he couldn't.

The Phoenix members were dumbstruck, they hadn't expected to do much, and they hadn't, but they still didn't know what had happened. They did the only thing they could think of, they turned their wands on the shadows to their left. But before they could cast a curse a voice called out and three figures emerged from the shadows.

"We have defeated the only ones here we wish to fight, lower your wands!" Matt called out.

They were still wary and only a few of the more trusting ones obliged, but only after casting a look at the fifty dead Death Eaters in the square.

"We do not wish to fight you!" Matt called again to them whilst raising his hand. He was a Dragon Summoner, he knew the advantages of showing force to get what you wanted. To his command the other nineteen Elves stepped forwards out of the shadows and took aim with their bows.

They quickly complied, out of sheer terror more then compliance. Then a knew voice was heard.

Harry had been keeping one eye on his 'prisoner' as he struggled to port key or apparate out. "Give it up Malfoy, that arrow is charmed, you can neither apparate, port key or even walk away from here!"

Malfoy seemed to collapse but didn't give up trying to dislodge the firmly placed arrow.

Then one member of the Order recognised Harry and ran forwards. All of the Elves once again took aim with their swords to protect their Lord. The woman came to a crashing halt again.

"Harry?" She sobbed unbelievingly. At this all of the Order once again raised their wands but this time only at the figure in the middle, at Harry.

One of the leaders of the Phoenix members called out. "Surrender yourself Potter, you are under arrest for murder. We will open fire if you do not comply!"

Matt had had enough, he couldn't watch as his best friend was threatened by those he had helped to save not a minute earlier.

"Fire!" he shouted. Instantly his own arrow joined the other twenty as they flew towards the first rank of the Order of the Phoenix members.

A/N: Sorry for the cliff hanger for those who don't like them but I did do that one on purpose. It was too tempting. Hope you are enjoying the story so far.


	19. Blown Cover

Catcher

A/N: Hey again, thanks for all the reviews.

As I am adding a new type of speech I better clarify things a bit.

"Speech" is normal English or Common.

'Speech' is communication in the mind. More specifically between Harry and Matt across their link.

"Speech" is still communication in the mind but the subtle difference will be for telepathy.

New; "Speech" is Leprano language, so the language of cats.

Soon; _"Speech"_ is for Elvish, a bit self explanatory really, I don't know how to speak Elvish like some seem to be able to do in some stories so I will have to make do with that. I didn't use it in the earlier chapter as the Elves have never been in the same place as humans so the clash didn't matter then.

Thanks; Any questions about anything? Feel free to leave questions in the review and if I think it can be answered I will endeavour to answer it in email or in an A/N so keep an eye out.

Chapter 19; Blown Cover

Paris

This had gotten way too far out of hand as far as Harry was concerned. He didn't blame the Elves or Matt for that fact. Whilst the Elves would never normally go against his order, they would if they thought that his life was in danger, so seeing the threats from the Order they were ready for the order that came from Matt. And as Matt was their senior, being a lord, they followed instantly, unfortunately with their normally horrendously accurate shots.

Matt on the other hand knew that these people were good, but it touched Harry that he was being so protective of him. He knew what these people had said about Harry and wouldn't stand for it. In Kristoshia the punishment for insulting a member of the Solem's or their closest friends was a capital punishment.

But even so, Harry couldn't let this worlds only defence against Voldermort be halved in one attack, especially as that would put Harry as a definite evil and alienate his crew.

He didn't know if Matt had been recognised but didn't think so. He would have to save the prats.

In the very short time that it took the arrows to fly Harry changed into his alternate form and as his front paws hit the ground sent out a massive shock of heat that incinerated the arrows not half a foot from their targets. The Elves weren't daft enough to fire again, but they did reload before the Order of the Phoenix members had had time to recover from the attack or from the blast of heat.

A few members closest to the fiery form that was Harry struggled to douse the flames licking up from the edges of their robes where Harry had not controlled the blast carefully enough in his haste.

"What the hell is Solem's cat doing here?" Shouted an enraged Alastor Moody. "The cat's Potter!"

Before anyone could think of anything else the order felt themselves being slammed backwards by a wall of magic as their magically cores forced apparition onto them. They came back to reality to the horrid feeling of forced apparition that many had never even known could be done, to the stunned faces of the Hogwarts students.

"Return to the ship!" Harry ordered the Elves, "Return the ship to Hogwarts Lake. Matt, we better get back to Hogwarts, you'll have to tell them that I disappeared after we left with Snape and that you had left for Hogwarts after you dropped Snape off at Atlantis. I will join the Leprano in the forest and as soon as you can, bring Albus and whoever he trusts to see me."

Hogwarts

Ten minutes later Matt strolled, supposedly obliviously, into the Great Hall of Hogwarts.

"Ah, Professor Solem, The Headmaster wishes to see you, I believe he is in his office with the Order members."

"Thank you Minerva."

Two minutes of walking led Matt to the office but he was faced with the Gargoyle, not having been in the school long enough to know the password he was at a loss.

'Harry? I don't feel like playing with this excuse for a guard dog!' he grinded out across the link, still not in a good mood after the Order's treatment of Harry. The prospect of walking into a room with them wasn't helping to calm him down.

Harry laughed back. _'Use your staff, imagine it being forced aside. I am sure my magic can shift it, if that don't work just blow it apart. I am sure that will shut Albus up. It's one of his little games.'_

Matt reached over his head to the staff that was hidden on his back with enough enchantments on it to make it invisible unless in Matt or Harry hands and also impossible to be touched by anyone other than those two without their permission.

He held it out to the Gargoyle, lightly touching the tip to the chest of the stone statue. It actually blinked slightly at the contact. Matt smirked. If it was sentient that made it all the easier. He used Harry's magic to flare out his own Aura as well as pushing magic through the Staff forcing the beast to step aside. It actually took surprising little effort but more magic than was possible for anyone of weaker powers. The ancient stone statue snapped to the side, obviously sensing that it could get worse than this.

Matt walked past and as an afterthought sent a small reminder to make it close behind him. He sheathed the staff back into its holder. And walked into the office, not bothering to knock.

The room had been magically enlarged to allow the full order to fit inside. There was a lot of talking going on, most probably arguments involving Harry. Matt caught the words 'Arrogant' and 'Powerful' as well as 'Dangerous' and even an 'Evil' before the inevitable silence occurred at his entrance.

Albus was uncharacteristically surprised at the Professors entrance, obviously the Gargoyle had, in its fright, forgotten to warn the Headmaster of letting the man past. That and in fact the power wave had temporarily scrambled the warning spells set up on the staircase.

"Good Evening Professor, I am glad you could join us at such late notice. How did you gain entrance?" Albus was obviously intrigued by this.

"I am the Defence Teacher am I not? Shouldn't it be obvious that I can get past a simple pass-worded guard?" He ignored Harry silent laughter, the lie had gotten him off the hook with the members but probably not the Headmaster, it would have taken much more than one defence teacher to get past that statue. "Why have you called me here? I have only just returned, the journey back isn't entirely without effort." Matt was royalty for a reason.

"There has been an attack on Paris," the Headmaster filled the defence teacher in on most of the details but left out a few more important things not realising that Matt already knew them through Harry. "What I want to know is why Mr. Potter turned into your familiar."

"It sounds like he was saving your life, and to think that you are trying to kill him." He sounded as nonchalant as you could actually get. Thoroughly enjoying the scene after these men had threatened his best friend. "My Familiar makes his own choice, he can come and go as he pleases. He left my side shortly before I left to return here."

"Do you know where he is now? He must be caught and brought to justice." Moody stepped in.

Matt decided to be annoying for a little longer. "Who? Mr. Potter or my familiar?"

Moody bristled in anger. "Tell me where he is or I will arrest you for aiding Potter."

"You assume I know him, and that my familiar is he?"

Moody had obvious lost his temper as a curse flew at Matt unexpectedly, most of the room turned to see the effect but was only given the sight of a shield bouncing the spell away to the ceiling.

'Thanks Harry!' without the staff in his hand or time to channel the power without touching it Matt couldn't have stopped the curse. Harry was obvious listening wholeheartedly to the situation.

"I would prefer it if you could keep this civil gentlemen." Said the Headmaster.

Matt had gotten bored of this argument by now and decided that it was time to end it, he used his own telepathic abilities to find the headmasters mind. Though shielded he managed to get the mans attention and in the shifting around as people found sits again he silently asked for the headmaster to lower his barriers briefly. After they dropped hesitantly he asked the headmaster that if he wanted more information to meet him at the entrance hall at midnight along with only those he truly trusted and he would show him what he knew.

The headmaster quickly agreed and Matt was rewarded with a slight nod.

The meeting quickly ended after that. With Matt remaining oblivious to their attempts to connect his familiar with Harry. Harry laughed for most of the time before leaving just as the meeting ended to set up his own meeting for later that night.

The Forbidden Forest

Matt led the party of Albus Dumbledore's most trusted Order of the Phoenix members down the well worn path of the Forbidden forest.

The party consisted of Matt and Albus Dumbledore followed closely by Arthur Weasley, Minerva McGonagle, Alastor Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt and finally Nymphadora Tonks for once surprisingly less than clumsy.

It was more than ten minutes before sound off to the side of the path stopped the more sensitive and trained amongst them. The path had opened up into a clearing so that the path was now twice as wide as it was before, but as the path had been only three feet across before it still wasn't that wide and the Party was still walking single file.

Six wands were instantly in their owners hands as the Order members turned to the emerging shape. Matt himself turned a bit more leisurely, being able to sense Harry nearby, even if this wasn't an ally he was safe with Harry around.

Out of the shadows prowled a black leopard with a wide black wingspan curled tight to its back. A Leprano that Matt recognised out of the five that had come through with them as Harry's mentor in all things Leprano, Arturo.

"Potter!" Both Moody and Shacklebolt reacted in the same way, mistaking this feline as the one that had spent time in the castle. Both threw curses, the stunning charms just flew off into the trees as the form dodged both beams of light.

"Actually, he isn't Harry Potter!" Harry appeared behind them but Matt wasn't fooled and neither was Albus as neither reacted. The other five however shot stunners at the figure which on impact disappeared in a glimmer of light. An illusion.

"I am!" They all spun around again to see Harry Potter standing with his hand petting Arturo's head. Something that whilst, as felines, they liked did not allow many to do. Another round of shouted "Stupify"s was yelled into the night and then silence as nothing came from the six wands. This time the Headmaster had also shot a curse.

The looked at Harry Potter who had six small balls of red light flying around his raised hand.

"Come now, we didn't come to fight," spoke Matt, as he spoke another four Leprano walked from the woods as the tension rose. Each of the Members of the Order now stood face to face with a single Lepra apart from the Headmaster. Two of the four sat on the ground on their hunches like Arturo. One was in black panther form like Arturo and the other was in full shifted form. Flames lighting up the darkness of the woods. The other two, again one black and one fully shifted lay fully on the ground, with their tails swishing across the ground and their heads raised off the ground in a pose not unlike the Sphinx in Egypt.

"Your are on this murderers side?!" Asked Arthur Weasley.

"I knew there was something traitorous about you from the office earlier!" Shacklebolt also spat at Matt.

"Enough!" spat Harry not liking his friend being insulted any more then Matt liked to see Harry threatened. "If you are so unreasonable to attack someone that has posed you no threat than maybe you are beyond our help!"

"Yield Potter!" Shouted Moody. All six raised their wands again. In response the five Leprano snapped up to their feet and those not in full shift, instantly shifted to join their others in flaring their forms. The bright light forced the Order members to bring up their other hands to briefly shield their eyes from the sudden light.

"Stand down, my friends!" Harry shouted over the sudden roaring of flames and the crackle of lightning. He turned to the Order members. "Unfortunately it would not be wise for me to yield to you and end up in the Ministry, or dead. The trouble that would cause is unthinkable."

"You do not have a choice!" Shacklebolt answered.

Harry just shook his head and muttered, "So be it." He glanced at his hand and the still spinning six red balls turned translucent and then went clear, though still obviously there if looked at carefully by a distortion of light through them. Harry looked up sharply and before the Order members could react the clear orbs shot from Harry, their paths barely discernable as the moved through the few foot space at twice their normal speed. The only ones who reacted fast enough were the headmaster and Tonks who happened not only to be able to have slightly longer by the added distance of being on the end of the line but also knew a shield not needing a spoken incantation that would then be too slow. Unfortunately the spell relied on the user knowing exactly which spell had been used to power it and both thinking, justifiably, that it was their own stupefy's were taken by surprise when their shield had no effect and the disarming spell hit them alone with their four comrades.

Unknown to anyone of them, Harry had used his Catcher abilities to change the magic into the expelliarmus curse and also to change the spell light to clear to confuse his opponents. Harry simply waved his hand and the six flying wands flew to him. He pocketed them carefully. Wandlessly applying a sealing spell on his pocket to stop any of the members from stealing one back.

Now at the mercy of their believed betrayer and the five angered fiery forms, and now also their Defence Teacher who moved to stand next to his friend they were forced to listen.

Harry explained very little, saying basically that he had been gone in order to train his magic and to be able to help. That he had seen this impostor also and explain that it was a creature called a 'Danus' and that he had returned with the Elves and the Leprano as well as other wizards to aid in Voldermort's and this Danus' defeat. He also added for good measure that it had been him to find the traitor that was Snape and also that as his alternate form was a pure light, magically creature, he could not be evil.

"Now that I have talked it is time we find out about you." They all looked resolute not to say anything to that proposition.

"It wasn't a request." Matt couldn't help but laugh slightly. The six found themselves unable to move as a spell weaved its way around their feet and without their wands they had no way to tackle this now uncertain evil. Harry stepped up to his old Headmaster and a few feet in front of him shifted into his alternate form. He was in fact slightly larger then the other Leprano and soon had the headmaster's light blue eyes locked with his feline form's bright white eyes. His eyes flashed golden for a split second and the Headmaster reeled slightly as his mental barriers fell down instantly, he could even start to bring them up again. Harry's Leprano mind filled into the gaps in his old headmasters, seeking answers and showing one or two memories that would prove his innocence.

Taking the Lord Catcher's example the other five Lepra's stepped forward and sat just in front of their shaking opposites. Still slightly angered by these five humans violence towards their Lord they slammed into their victims minds with little or no warning or reverence. Soon seeking what they wished.

It took little more than ten minutes to accurately check their minds. Harry was the last finished as he had also to add his own memories to prove himself and also as Albus was older he had more life history to search for. Harry took great interest in learning and also absorbing the more unique spells that the man had used before in battles that Harry had not heard of.

When finished, Harry prowled back into the centre next to his mentor, Arturo and re-took his human form. He glanced around at the 'victims' and smirked at their collapsed figures in the dirt. He could feel all of them trying to rebuild their own mental barriers as fast as possible.

He petted Arturo softly and scratched his crown absently, his hand sinking into the felines flames unaffected. "What do you have for me Arturo?" his voice came out as a mixture of low purrs and growls but he linked his mind to Matt's so that his best friend could understand what was said.

"Alastor Moody is loyal to the Light and has often gone against the leader to stay loyal to it. He can be trusted, but he is paranoid. He shouldn't be a problem."

"Thank you friend."

"How about you Melica?" he turned to his right to speak to the farthest female Lepra.

"Arthur Weasley is also loyal to the light, he will fight any odds to defend his family. He is not however a strong fighter but knows of working of this worlds legal and governmental system." She paused, "There is worry for his youngest son, this man found magic books on evil subjects in his son, Ronald's bedroom, he believes it a consequence of his son being attacked in the Ministry last year. He thinks his son may turn to the Evil forces for revenge against you, but has not worded this to anyone."

"Thank you, Melica, I will have to try to scan Ron's mind and see for myself." He knew perfectly well that Ron wanted revenge on Harry for leaving, for leading him to getting hurt in the ministry and for 'killing' Hermione's parents. "And you, Vellion?"

The youngest male with them responded in his usual chirpy, hyper voice, "She's just like our old teachers. Minerva McGonagle is boring. She has served the light for many years and is loyal, but I think probably just because she thinks that turning evil would break too many school rules. Sounds like your friend Hermione Granger." He snickered, a glanced into Harry's eyes also glinting. Harry and 'Vell' had become friends whilst Harry had been learning from Arturo and he was Harry's own age. Just sixteen and a half. "Interesting enough though, she believes you completely, she's a weak Empath. You wouldn't think it though."

"That is interesting, Thanks mate!" Harry pondered before turning to his right and to the two elders that had joined them. "Anything of interest Gaia?"

The male Elder looked extremely downcast. "It seems that young Lord Solem's enemies are now you own enemies. This man is not who he seems. I am afraid that Kingsley Shacklebolt is dead. This man is a spy from the dark forces of Kristoshia. It seems you now have three enemies on this world my Lord and friend."

Harry was shocked, he didn't think that the darkness from Kristoshia would spread so fast. Matt was turning very pale and sat leant on a tree. Melica moved to comfort him and snuggle up to his side, he flames just warm enough to give heat as she allowed Matt to stroke her side.

"What do you suggest, Elder Gaia?" Harry asked.

"I will leave this spy to you, I would suggest that he dies. I suggest we start to move more forces in. This mans mind showed me a build up of their forces in the rainforests of South America. We cannot waste time." His answer was sure and to the point.

"You are right as usual. He shall die, after I myself have searched his mind for their forces information. And I will allow the Phoenix's their chance at interrogation. You my friend, I ask a favour. Return to the Elven world and my City and inform them of this news and give them my request that they begin moving their forces to this world and ask this of the other Elders too."

"I will do as you ask willingly my friend. And I assure you we will have the armies moving as soon as possible. You will get your assistance."

"Thank you friend. Good travels."

The four remaining Leprano looked on in resignation. Things were happening so fast. Matt still sat in a slump. He had never gotten over the loss of his world. He would always have the awful memories of those years were many good people were slaughtered for no reason and he had watched his friends and family die around him. Harry knew he would have to help his friend but had other things to deal with first.

Fuelled by anger at what this one spy meant. He spun to face the man he now knew was not Shacklebolt. Silence fell over the struggling six as they looked into Harry's gleaming white eyes. Fury built around him and the night air cooled dramatically as the wind picked up. Leaves swirled as Harry raised his hand and threw it at the man. The elemental shove through the man backwards against the tree and the man was fixed against the wood ramrod straight. Surprise etched onto his face.

"You dare show yourselves here! You have one world, is that not enough. Flames licked at Harry as he slipped slightly into his alternate form. You might have one that world but this one is not for you taking!" Harry yelled over the wind. The remaining five realising their legs were free scrambled backwards away from the advancing Harry. "Who are you and what is your purpose here!"

The man spat out about half a minutes worth of a Kristoshian dialect that Harry didn't know but by Matt's response it wasn't pleasant.

Harry lashed out with his magic and the man tried fruitlessly to curl up in pain.

"Your kind will never belong here and I will see to that!" The man lost consciousness after Harry lashed out again.

It was Albus that managed to get his wits about him first, "Harry what have you done to Kingsley?" he sounded horrified.

"I have done nothing to Shacklebolt. This is a spy from another world. A murderer for a Darkness far worse than our own. Kingsley Shacklebolt is dead."

The silence at this announcement was only broken when the last Leprano spoke up. Harry visibly deflated as he turned to address the Elder he thought of as a surrogate Mother.

"Yes, what do you have, Elder Rosen?"

"I am afraid it is another shocking bit of news. Whilst she is in fact Nymphadora Tonks and one that rushed forwards when she saw you in Paris, she is still a spy." Harry darkened eyes turned to look at Tonks. She looked trapped and look pleadingly at Harry and then slightly at the other four member of the Order. Harry opened his Crysti senses. "She does not seem evil and does not carry the brand of a known evil. Who then is she a spy for Rosen?"

The older feline looked at Harry and then at Tonks. "She is a warrior bonded to a light creature. She is a member of the Order of the Zalot."

A/N: Bet you weren't expecting that one were you! Tell me what you think of my decisions on an Evil Ron, a dead Kingsley Shacklebolt and most importantly Tonks as a spy!


	20. Skirmish in the Forest

Catcher

A/N: 20 Chapters!!! How did that one happen? Question for you, do you think this story is moving too fast, too slow or just right? Let me know!

Chapter 20; Skirmish in the Forest.

Hogwarts

The last week had been exhausting for Harry. After the stand off in the Forbidden forest Harry hadn't known how to treat Tonks, whilst she was fighting for the same Order as Harry she was still a spy and obviously Harry was weary about trusting spies. Especially with finding Snape to be loyal to Voldermort and then this man that had been taking the late Kingsley Shacklebolt's place.

He didn't tell anyone about Tonks being a spy for the Zalots. So the only ones that knew were himself, Matt and the four Leprano. He reluctantly gave up the impostor to the Order of the Phoenix for interrogation and had been told by Albus that once they had finished with the man the would give him up to the Aurors and the Ministry for them to put to trial and that he would inevitably end up in Azkaban.

Harry however didn't have that sort of trust in the British Ministry. He did give up the man freely but weaved a bit of his own magic into the mans magical core. Spell he had been planning for a long time. It was based on the idea of a muggle virus. It would activate when the victim, in this case the spy, met with anyone he worked with, so if he saw any of his groups over spies or returned to their base in south America then the Magic would leave him, killing him and settle into the person or people he met with. And in that way spread throughout their army. It should be very hard to track.

In the last week he had monitored the trial of the man. The Ministry reluctantly conceded that there was a third evil on the planet. And also it made it to the papers that it had been a good Harry Potter that had captured the man and not the same man as had attacked the Muggle World that summer. Harry had taken the care to alter the mans memory slightly to avoid mention of the Order of the Zalots involvement or existence or anything that Voldermort could use to find ways to travel across the divisions of the Worlds.

That morning, a week and a day after the man was captured the man was imprisoned for a life sentence in Azkaban. Personally the man should have been killed for what he had done. He had owned up to killing more men in his life then he could remember.

Harry was counting the days to his escape. If it didn't happen soon he might be tempted to arrange it. For once an evil spy would be more useful free then imprisoned. Matt and his 'panther' had returned to work once again. The few order members that now believed the truth had been working to prove Harry's innocence.

Harry was now sitting under the table in the Great Hall during an evening meal. Matt was in his usual place above him, they had decided that Harry should act less patrolling as they had before. Somehow a rumour had begun to spread that he wasn't a Lepra at all. Apart from the odd one or two students that had missed the fight between Harry in his full Leprano form had been scared of him ever since. Those who had heard of the fight from friends were less worried. Harry had asked Albus to put a book on the Leprano legends into the Library so that a student might find it and hopefully cure the students of their fear.

Just as people were finishing their food the doors crashed open and a screaming student came crashing through the doors and came hurtling towards the teachers table. As Harry recovered quickly from his shock he leapt up and the rest of the teachers also got to their feet. As Harry was the only one on the right side of the table he was the only person she could get to, and surprising Harry and most of the teachers and students and almost sending Matt into laughter had it not been for the sight of the distraught girl. She launched herself at Harry's panther form and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Harry stood in real shock as she buried her head into the under side of his neck and cried. He relented to trying to comfort the second year student. He gently searched her mind and being so upset she didn't notice, He let himself purr to calm her down like a child with their pet cat. He only searched the last five minutes and saw the two things he needed. The memory of cloaked figures exiting the forest and the sight of those figures attacking this girl, who he found out was a Patricia Lexus, and the boy she had been with. She had run it seemed, where was he?

__

"Albus! Get the students locked into their common rooms! We have attackers either coming or in the forest. They've got one of the students." Harry said telepathically to the Headmaster.

Albus responded by raising his wand and letting of a small bang effectively gaining silence. "Would prefects and Heads of Houses please ensure all students return to their common rooms and run a check list. Prefects seal the common rooms and with the senior students guard all the students of your house. Go now!" The room surged into motion as the prefects started to herd students to their common rooms. The teachers started to make their way around to the girl and the Leprano.

When Madam Pomfrey arrived she attempted to remove the girl from the great beast of a cat but was unsuccessful. "Miss. Lexus? What has happened?" Albus asked.

"They…they…they took him!" She sobbed. Harry nudged her shoulder with his nose to help calm her slightly.

"Who did? Who did they take?" Matt asked having not been told by Harry.

"D…d…death Eaters!" Her voice rose in pitch. "They took Daniel! You've got to help him!" She was almost panicking.

Albus turned to the teachers. "Hagrid, go and fetch Fang and meet us by the doors. Everyone else, get what you need and meet me by the doors in five minutes. We need to find these men. Minerva please go and call the Ministry and tell them what has happened and ask for support. Dismissed!"

As soon as the teachers had left to get ready to go out, Matt turned the matron, "I suggest some sort of sedative and take her up to her dorm room, Madam."

"That's probably for the best. Make sure you inform me as soon as you have finished so that I can check up on you all." With that she approached turned to approach Harry but paused. Harry flipped through her mind with a speed that she only just noticed the intrusion, so much faster then anyone could ever do.

Harry spoke into her mind, and made sure that it sounded like himself. _"You can take her, just look after her, I will check up on her when I return."_ She started at the realisation that this was the student who used to be in her infirmary so often. But then she smiled and pulled her wand and muttered a sleep charm at the girl who slumped as the sleep took hold. Harry gently biting down on the back of the neck on her robes and taking her weight for the second before Matt and Albus lifted her onto a conjured stretcher and madam Pomfrey left the room pushing the floating stretcher before her.

Once she had left the room, Harry looked at Albus and then the door, and soon afterwards the Hall was warded and silenced. Harry quickly changed forms and appeared in his shimmering deception cloak. Matt also wore one, resistant to magic and having half the effects of a disillusionment charm or an invisibility charm he almost looked like a ghost as the long robes swirled around him.

"I counted 25 evil wizards, I don't know for sure whether they are working for Tom, the Danus or the Kristostians." He looked at Matt at the last bit, Matt always described them as the people who destroyed his world but as they had captured the whole of the planet they were technically the 'Kristostians.' He did look slightly downcast though for Matt's comfort though. He had just got over the incident in the forest with the spy. "They attacked the two students by the Greenhouses. Miss Lexus ran from them before they disappeared, but I can sense them heading towards the forest and entering it."

"We had better go. I suggest we all split into smaller groups to find them." Matt spoke out, being a lot better than Harry at strategy having led many skirmishes on his own planet, no matter what his age.

"Shouldn't we wait for the Aurors?" Asked Albus.

"We don't have time for that, every minute we wait they might be getting further away!" Harry spoke, already heading for the door and the waiting teachers outside. His form changing on the way. His eyes flashed before he got to the door and he waited patiently for Matt and Albus to open it for him.

The Forbidden Forest

The group had split into three or in reality, the teachers split into two groups, one having Albus and the other having Rubeus Hagrid to help track them down. Harry and Matt made up the last team and they were following the trace of magic left by the Death Eaters, if they were in fact death eaters, top the edge of the forest.

When they reached the forest edge Harry let loose a series of loud roars and growls to contact Arturo, Melica, Vellion, Gaia and Rosen. Arturo had return a couple days before saying that the Elves could not disturb the timeline further and to that extent. They said that the Elves already there would have to be enough until Halloween. They were however willing to send another ship through the portal in a couple of weeks so that there would always be a ship at Hogwarts for its protection.

There was supposed to be quite a few of the Leprano due to arrive in the next few days.

A confirmatory roar was heard.

__

'They said that they will look into it.' Harry said amusedly at the blasé response. _'It's a shame that Jato and his friends haven't arrived yet.'_

They entered the forest and Harry quickly realise that it would be hard to follow them through this intensely magical forest. Everything gave off an eerie light in the dullness making it extremely difficult to sense where they were at a distance. But it was possible to follow them through the forest.

Half an hour later they saw flashes of red from the east. And instantly turned to met it. They didn't however make it there. After about half a mile of walking towards the flashes ten figures jumped out of the surrounding trees. Harry had missed them in the all encompassing spirals of magic in the forest and his Leprano senses had been too intent on watching in front of them to see anything to the sides.

Chaos quickly erupted. Matt used the staff to erect a shield against magic. Two knives came through the shield but Harry intercepted them by melting them with flames. The wind picked up around them, keeping Matt and Harry in the eye of the small hurricane. Matt keep up a shield against the spells but most were dodged. They needed to get rid of these ten as fast as possible to go help the others and find this Daniel kid.

The ten attackers, unaware of the real danger, were caught up in the wind and the spells stopped as they tried to shield against the flying dirt and branches. Then as Matt had expected Harry lit the wind. The ten men were caught completely without defence. Their hastily erected shields quickly crumbled under the torrent of swirling flames. And they were burnt to death. Harry stopped the inferno as he felt the life leave the last of the attackers. He wanted something left to look at. Once the air had cooled enough they left the area at a rush, once again towards the flashes still happening to the East.

It only took a few more minutes to arrive at the fight. It was Albus' group. They were surrounded, fight valiantly against 2-1 odds. Two of the teachers, Sinistra and the muggle studies teacher had both fallen but Harry could sense they were still alive. Harry knew that the teachers were starting to get tired and it wouldn't be long until they were overwhelmed. He turned into his human form and once again decided that elemental magic was the best way to go.

In the battle, the teachers were really starting to tire when suddenly the spells started to slow. Less spells were being cast by the Death Eaters or more specifically they were one by one stopping completely. The reason became evident by their shocked faces. Albus suddenly saw the vines twisting up the bodies of the Death Eaters up to their throats. Soon all 20 Death Eaters were on the ground struggling to breath through the vines suffocating them.

A few minutes later the group of teachers stared warily at he vines. They eventually retreated back into the forest. When the defence teacher and Harry Potter walked out of the forest, half distorted by their cloaks and with their hoods drawn up they were very hard to make out in the dark. Albus waved down the wands of his fellow teachers and they trusted his judgement enough to comply.

Before anyone could speak a crack of lightning fell down from the sky to their South. Followed by a few more darks of lightning lurching across the tops of the trees about half a mile away. The teachers all stood mesmerised as the forests interior was lit up like day time. Showing the odd glimpse of figures at the very edge of Harry's enhanced vision. When the brief ten or twenty seconds of flashes had finished a roar sounded through the sudden silence. Harry smiled.

"It seems we were all led into a trap after the girl escaped and they figured she told us. We were also attacked and so were they. More successfully until Arturo rescued them. We had better head over to them. Daniel is rather beaten up." Harry said as he moved off into the forest on the opposite side of where they had appeared from.

When they arrived, the Headmaster sent Minerva and Hagrid to take the boy back to the school. Harry moved to speak to Arturo about the battle. The Death Eaters had far outnumbered the seven teachers and had disarmed them before they could really react, and then the Leprano had come to the rescue them. They had also killed ten more of them before arriving there. That brought the count up to sixty in total.

Matt had walked to one of the bodies and pulled up the sleeve revealing the Dark Mark. This was Voldermort's work.

"Albus?" Harry turned to the man, "They came for the boy, what's so special about him?"

Thanks to everyone for reviewing, this chapters been done for a while but I have been a bit busy lately with coming home from uni.

I wish all my readers a happy Christmas if your into that kind of thing. If your not then have a good holiday and take a break!


	21. A Kinetic and Extreme Measures

Catcher

A/N: Sorry for the awfully long wait for this update, I'm working on a third story for putting on this site. Which is in evidence as I am about to post it! Please read!

Chapter 21; A Kinetic and Extreme Measures

Headmaster's Office

After the excitement in the forest anyone with injuries was taken to the Infirmary whilst Harry, Matt, McGonagle and of course the Headmaster went to his office taking the small boy with them. He was only bruised at most and once he was sat on a chair Harry stepped up behind him and placing his hands onto the boy's shoulders he concentrated on passing some of his own Magic into his patient's body.

Daniel glowed golden for a few seconds and when it subsided all of the bruises had almost completely faded. Leaving only slight yellowish tints on some of his skin.

The boy roused quickly from his light sleep and took in the people around him, he started when he saw Harry and before anyone could explain to the boy about Harry one of the Headmaster's telescopes was hurtling at Harry who half expecting something to happen raised a hand and effortlessly caught the hurtling object.

"Daniel, please don't be alarmed." Spoke Albus reassuringly, "I believe you recognise Harry Potter but please understand that he is as loyal to the light as everyone else in this room." The boy relaxed slightly but was still wary.

"Ok then Albus, now that that is settled how about you explain to Harry and me what is so important about this lad to warrant risking the loss of sixty Death Eaters." Matt asked politely.

"Ah yes, you see, this year we have the great honour of welcoming an Heir of the Founders. This is Daniel Matthews or at least his alias is. He is actually the Heir of Ravenclaw and therefore useful to Voldermort."

Harry spoke up, "How exactly is he useful and why haven't I seen him before? He must be forth year."

Minerva answered this time. "He was home schooled to keep him protected but as you know having an Founders Heir in the school increased the defences five times over so in these times it was extremely beneficial to have him around. Voldermort wants him because with his blood and certain rituals he could pass unharmed through the wards. Also he has a certain gift which is highly useful to anyone."

Harry could see they didn't want to go into the last part so used his Crysti abilities. "You're a kinetic are you?" He asked Daniel.

The boy only nodded in response. "Are you trained in the skill?"

Again the boy nodded. "Would you mind showing me?" Harry asked.

In response the boy lifted Matt off of his chair and held him up in the air with only looking at him. Harry had to chuckle at the sight of his irate friend. Harry though did take pity and concentrated and brought his friend back to his seat.

Daniel looked astonished at the act. Harry knew that a Kinetic's actions could not be reversed or countered by anyone who wasn't a Kinetic themself.

"No," Harry looked at the boy, "I am no Kinetic, I am the Heir of the Creator and therefore I control any form of Magic present. I tapped into your own powers to counter your actions. I can only do that when you are close."

The boy nodded, his eyes widening slightly, obviously having been taught about the Heirs in his youth, being one himself.

"Shall we get down to business then Albus?" Harry turned his attention back to the older man. "Mr. Ravenclaw here obviously need better defences. He needs hiding away to keep him from being kidnapped by Voldermort."

"Indeed, the only thing I can think of is to place him in a safe house under the Fidelius Charm." Albus suggested.

"That's a bit harsh for a boy on his own." Matt pointed out.

"I could place a charm on him. It is similar to a Fidelius Charm but only surrounds the person. He would need a secret keeper just like a normal Fidelius Charm but would only be hidden when he wants to be. I would have to be his secret keeper as I am the only one capable to channel the amount of Magic needed." He turned to the boy. "What do you think? All you would have to do is concentrate on the spell and nobody but me could ever find you even if they were there touching you when you activated it."

"Sounds good. So I wouldn't be hidden all the time? Only when I need it?" He asked.

"Indeed, however I trust you won't use this to pull pranks or to break rules, I will know as soon as you activate it and come to you discreetly in case you need me."

Daniel nodded his assent and Harry moved to crouch in front of him and placed a hand over the boy's temple and the other over his chest and closed his eyes. The room's lights went out and Harry and Daniel began to glow a bright blue before they dulled and the lights returned.

"Done!" Harry announced to the room. The others looked around the room for the boy and Matt went as far as waving his hand around where he knew the boy was seated. "Your hand just passed through his head Matt. If I am right in thinking it isn't exactly a pleasant feeling for Daniel to have you hand go through him."

He turned back to Daniel. "You need to concentrate on that small red ball up to your right and think of deactivating it. It'll turn blue and you are back with us." As he spoke Daniel reappeared on the seat. "That small ball is the activator. You'll always have it until we both remove the spell, neither of us can do that on our own and both must consent to its dismissal. All you have to do is concentrate on it activating and you will be untraceable to everything but me. I will know if you are ever in trouble and unable to activate and can activate it myself if needed but cannot deactivate it but I can see through the charm if I concentrate on it enough. Understand?"

The boy nodded and to Harry's surprise stood and hugged him briefly.

Hogwarts

The next morning saw Harry and Matt inviting the Headmaster to try a plan. The rift between the Slytherins and the Gryffindors had become so big that their meetings were coming close to wars. Harry knew that all of the Sixth Year Slytherins were either good people or borderline. With Crabbe, Goyle and Malfoy dead there was little resistance worth noting, but the Gryffindors were still extremely against them. Led by Ron Weasley unsurprisingly. Harry had decided on forcing some sort of friendship to form and danger was still, in his mind anyway, the best way to form relationships like that.

So he had decided on a plan. The plan went off without a hitch. During their lesson a messenger had arrived from the Headmaster stating that there was an emergency in the Forbidden Forest and that they needed search parties to find a missing student. According to the message all fifth to seventh years were to report in their current classes to the main entrance. From there they were led into the forbidden forest. All of the Fifth to Seventh Years were there and soon three groups of students split and entered the forest. The sixth year Slytherins, Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were led into the forest by Matt and his Familiar.

Harry didn't feel guilty for what he did next; the advantages of it far outdid the downside or scaring the students. A pre-planned sound occurred to the group's right after about two hours of walking. Almost instantly Matt held his hand up for silence and motioned everyone to stand ready. He waved a hand towards Harry in his panther form and Harry nodded obviously so that all there could see him and then trotted off towards the sound.

The group waited for a few minutes before a few students began to chatter quietly to themselves. But after a few more minutes a loud crash was heard from the forest to the side exactly where Harry's panther form disappeared.

Matt cried out as if in loss when he heard a feline version of a yelp come from where Harry had vanished, but he quickly collected himself and turned to the students with a look of pure anger on his face.

"Get ready to defend yourselves. Whatever happens stick together as one group, don't split up!" He almost yelled and no sooner had he finished his words a single green light flashed from beside them and a green curse flashed between them. Most of the group through themselves away form its path even though it would have missed them. A couple of over enthusiastic people shot a few stunners in the general direction but they had no indication of it doing anything. Suddenly there was a loud yell form the opposite and no sooner had that curse been fired a second and third was heard. The students managed to block the curses.

"We're surrounded!" Matt yelled to the group, "Form a circle, defend each other! Work togeth-" he never got to finish. The group had just got into a circle when a bright red curse hit their professor in the chest and he was thrown backwards violently into the forest and they heard a sickening crack as he obviously hit a tree just on the other side of the darkness.

This seemed to fuel the students and their own curses started flying into the forest at their unseen enemies.

After what seemed like hours the attacks on the group dwindled to a sudden stop. Their own spells continued for a few minutes before they too stopped. An eerie silence greeted them.

"Is anyone hurt?" Hermione asked. There was a faint rustling as people seemed to check themselves over. Nobody responded in the affirmative so everyone relaxed slightly. "We need to get back as soon as possible!" Nobody thought to argue; they were all sixth years and knew Hermione's intelligence. Not even the Slytherins thought against it.

"What about the professor and his cat?" A Hufflepuff asked looking at Hermione as their automatic leader.

In response she pointed to three boys, two Ravenclaws and a Slytherin and told them to find their professor. And again to a Hufflepuff and Dean and Seamus from Gryffindor to head off in the direction of their Professors cat. The rest of them made up time by searching nearby for signs of their enemy but soon discovered that they had retreated evidently with all of their fallen, if their even had been.

What shocked and worried them was the fast discovery that they were alone now. Their Professors body had been taken, presumably by the enemy and there was no hope of tracking the Leprano race as they left no trail in their wake.

They quickly made up their mind that they needed to find their way back but for some reason nobody knew which direction they had come from.

Hermione tried to calm them all down. "Don't worry, the forest is in a valley east of the castle, all we have to do is head west and we shall come across Hogwarts, the lake or Hogsmeade."

There was frantic talking. "How are we going to do that?" The arrogant but slightly lessened voice of Pansy Parkinson asked.

Ron snorted slightly but covered it with a cough remembering Hermione trying to find away to start a fire in the third floor passageway in their first year.

Hermione however just rolled her eyes and lifted up her wand and carefully placed it on the upturned palm of her right hand.

"_Point Me!"_ She spoke. It spun around once and then again and again. It didn't stop spinning.

A/N: What do you think? Thanks loads to my reviewers, its really touching!


	22. Illfated Reunion

Catcher

A/N; The long awaited reunion of the trio with disastrous consequences. For anyone interested I will be aiming to update my stories evenly, so one chapter per story and so on.

Chapter 22; Ill-fated Reunion

Matt's Rooms

Harry and Matt sat in front of the fire place comfortably and for the first time that they could remember since arriving here were relaxing with a Butter beer in their hands.

"How do you think they are doing out there, Harry?" It had been four days now and the students were still out in the forest. Three groups with enough spells on them that Harry could see them wandering about in the distance if he looked out over the forest with his Crysti abilities even with all the ambient magic around the castle.

They hadn't realised that when each group was attacked by Harry that the spells that did hit them were all tracking and protection charms. The centaurs had agreed to help the Elves in following and protecting the students. Nothing could really go wrong apart from bickering between the groups and the Elves had been instructed to use their own initiative when it came to that. If the fighting in the groups got too bad then they would interfere.

So far the groups of sevenths and fifth years had been interfered with. On the first evening both groups had come to wand point and a fight had ensured. Neither had used too dangerous spells against each other but the Elves had discreetly injured a few of the students forcing them to work together in order to survive.

Harry was pleased to see that the sixth years had done a little better. They had started arguing but his old friends had put a stop to the conflict before the Elves had interfered. They were the better at surviving it seemed. They had found shelter and settled whereas the other years were still wandering around aimlessly even though they had agreed that they were lost.

The plan was to leave them out there until the seventh morning and then rescue them with the Elves pretending to be search parties but as with everything else that plan was soon to be out of the question along with Harry and Matt's quiet talk.

Before Harry could answer Matt he felt the disturbance in the Magic of the castle as the sensor wards were pushed apart by a powerful being. Harry jumped up.

"It's the Danus. It just passed into the ten mile sensor wards!"

"We need to get the students in. He'll be able to see the groups like you can!" Matt realised desperately.

Harry cursed as he changed into his Black Panther form and bolted through the door to Matt's rooms with Matt following. As Harry ran up a flight of stairs he called out to Matt through their link.

'_Matt! Go to the ships. Tell the Avrilon to take to sailing near the shore to give us artillery coverage over the Gates and front lawn and then tell the Burning Wind to wait for us at the entrance to the Forbidden Forest, Land side. Then send someone to alert General Granger and his AWS's! The Danus is about eight miles out to the south west."_ The Avrilon was the other ship which the Elves had sent from The City Of Light. It had the longest range of any of their ships due to its new artillery cannons as well as its normal cannons. Harry was glad it hadn't arrived two days later or they wouldn't have it.

By the time Harry finished his instructions Harry was changing to his human form to say the password to the Headmaster's Office and Matt was out on the lawn running towards the Avrilon docked on the School side of the lake. The Burning Wind was stationed on its pontoon in the Muggle Base on the far side of the lake and it would take too long to run around the lake.

Matt ran up the gang plank and instantly called for the Captain.

"Captain Gullan to the Gangway immediately!"

It was a long five seconds before the Old Elf came up on deck. He bowed slightly.

"What is wrong, My Lord?"

"The Danus is incoming. Your orders are to get away from the shore but stay in range for artillery strikes. By the looks of things he'll come up from Hogsmeade. You are to await our command to fire or as soon as he gets within five hundred yards of the Castle Gates."

"Aye, My Lord!" He turned to start issuing orders to his crew.

Matt turned to the Quarter deck and picked up the communications device from its holder.

"Burning Wind, this is Solem, Flash message for Commander Pelaty! Over!"

It was a few seconds before he recognised the Captains voice.

"This is Commander Pelaty, over!"

"Orders are to position your ship on land at position Foxtrot as soon as possible and await myself and Harry! Also inform General Granger of the Danus, Inbound approximately seven miles south west, Over!"

"Understood, The Base has just gone on alert, I believe they are tracking it already, Pelaty Out."

The brief conversation ended abruptly and Matt left the ship impressed once again by the Muggle detection systems that saw the Danus almost at the same time as Harry did.

Matt rushed over to the meeting place, in Harry's spare time when Matt had been teaching but Harry hadn't stuck around, Harry had spent time classifying the threats to the school and agreed and designated meeting places to shorten the orders in the event of emergencies like this one.

Matt arrived at the meeting point about half a minute before Harry in his Black Panther form and the professors exited the school and came over to them.

Albus was the first to speak, "Aurors are on their way, they are flooing in via our offices, and they should be ready in about ten minutes."

"The ships moving into position, and the Muggles saw the Danus almost before we did and they are preparing for it." Matt added more to Harry then the professors, "I think they are looking for retribution for the base that the Danus destroyed."

Harry's black head turned to look out over the lawn, the Avrilon was under sail now and heading towards its position about five hundred metres off shore so that its cannons covered the lawn but didn't reach the outer gate but had a clear artillery firing line the whole way to Hogsmeade. The Burning Wind was heading towards them at a fast pace. Harry saw it in time to see the Magic weave its way under the hull and as it approached the shore it lurched up above it and started to sail through the air about ten feet off the floor. It's ghostly image vague in the early evening light.

Matt turned to Albus, "Headmaster the Danus should be in Hogsmeade in about five minutes and here not long after that, leave it to the Muggles and Elves to fight it unless it gets through the outer gates. Don't commit yourself unless you have to. Myself and my familiar will rescue the students in the forest as they will become a target if the Danus notices them." As he finished the Burning Wind suddenly lurched over their heads and the Professors ducked taken by surprise. A rope fell from the side and Matt grabbed it and was pulled onto the deck as Harry leapt up, opening his wings to carry him higher.

Forbidden Forest

Hermione looked at the group standing in various places around the group as her mind began to work again. She would have to concede to the point that this little adventure was a bad one but it had its advantages. Even Ron was starting to view the members of the Snakes House with a little respect. They were doing more than anyone in order to survive. It had been Zabini that had made the best suggestions on surviving out here. Most of the group including the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had agreed that Hermione was their leader but they all had looked to the Slytherin boy for the advice.

Hermione wondered what had become of the other years, they hadn't met up with them since becoming lost in this wilderness. That was the other thing that didn't sit right with the know-it-all witch. Harry had been in here before and never before had he gotten really lost, and there was no mention of not being able to use conventional tracking spells to find your way out.

Hermione and the Ravenclaws as well as a couple of Slytherins had sat down two nights before and discussed it and come to the conclusion that some sort of spell had been put up to stop tracking spells. Also through a little charm that a Ravenclaw had tried they had discovered that most of them had three or four different spells on them but they couldn't work out what and couldn't work out how to remove them either.

Whilst, unknown to Hermione, a battle was being prepared for only a mile away at Hogwarts she suddenly came to the conclusion. She shot up off the floor disturbing a napping Ron at her side. She ran over to a Ravenclaw.

"It's a set-up!" She almost screeched. "We've been put in here on purpose." The Ravenclaw in front of her and a few others realised immediately what she meant.

The girl in front was the one to elaborate. "They staged the attack on us and placed those spells on us to keep us protected but made us work together to try to survive."

The group muttered between themselves oblivious of the grins of their onlookers. Only twenty feet from them a shadow moved as two of the six onlookers moved together to discuss their orders.

"Lieutenant," The sergeant said in less then a whisper, "It seems that Lord Catcher was correct in his guess that this group would work it all out. What are our orders?"

The taller man thought for a few seconds before answering. "We will carry out Lord Catcher and Lord Solem's orders and reveal ourselves and return them to the castle. There is no more point in this game of theirs if they know it is a lie." He clicked his fingers four times in a pre-agreed signal.

Back in the clearing all of the Slytherins snapped their heads up as they heard the clicking sound. Years of watching and listening in the dungeons for followers made it easier to hear. They motioned for quiet but before anything could be discussed five Elves stepped from the trees. Instantly twenty wands were pointed at the five Elves but Hermione motioned them down again when she saw who they were.

The tallest Elf spoke before Hermione had a chance to, "Good Evening students, my name is Lieutenant Gilens, It seems that you have reached an objective set by my Lord and as such it is time for you to return to the castle and there you have the rest of the week to . . ."

He went silent as a foghorn blared across the treetops. Hermione opened her mouth to ask what it was but the Lieutenant motioned for silence. Another blare was heard this time longer than before and a second later another short one.

The students just stood silently as two of the Elves started talking to their leader. A Muggle born walked to Hermione and started talking to her.

"I think its Morse code. The letter 'R'."

Before Hermione spoke the Foghorn was heard again. A long blast then two short ones. She looked at the other Muggle born.

"D," he whispered, "I don't see why though, it doesn't mean anything."

The Elves seemed to have understood it though as their weapons were out in a few seconds. The leader turned to them. "Gather what items you wish to take!" He snapped, any earlier politeness gone.

"We're ready." Hermione answered knowing that none of her group had any luggage to take alone. "What was that signal?"

The leader turned to her and his face softened slightly. "Please, three of you send up red flares and two send up green afterwards." Once the students did as they were instructed he spoke again. "As your companion rightly said that was Morse code. One of our ships is heading to pick us up."

"So each of the letters means something separate," the Muggle born stated, "that's why R and D meant nothing together."

"That's right, R mean recall so if we hadn't already been talking to you we would have revealed ourselves and waited for pick up. The D is a pre arranged signal meaning Danus." The group gasped at the implication, and he continued. "The two together means that you are being recalled because of the Danus which I assume is heading to the castle. It can see spells in the air and as I know you have worked out you all have a lot of spell on you, so you would be a target."

As he finished the treetops were pushed aside to their west and the Burning Wind flew into the clearing. It only slowed slightly as it reefed in it sails but didn't come to a complete halt but twenty five ropes were flung from the deck. Each had two loops in it.

As the ropes came up on them they heard the voice of the Lieutenant again. "Foot in the lowest loop and arm in the upper, one person per rope only. You only have one shot at this so hold tight." The elves moved to the back of the group and watched as the group grabbed hold of the ropes and were flung lifted off the ground.

One student missed his rope and tried for a second but fell when it was a foot off the ground. The Lieutenant seeing that the boy had no other chance motioned his troops up the ropes and grabbed the first rope that the boy had missed and swung on it to intercept the boy as he was regaining his balance. In one fluid motion he hoisted the boy up into his arms and placed the boys arm in the upper loop with his own foot in the lower and held onto the rope and the boy as they were pulled clear of the trees and onto the deck.

He placed the boy on the deck and the boy turned to him, "Thank you sir," he said quickly turning red. He just nodded in return.

"Justin!" the boy turned his head at the girl called Hermione and followed her as she beckoned at him to follow her and the rest of the group up onto the Quarterdeck.

The Burning Wind

Harry turned to Pelaty on the Quarterdeck as the sixth years were pulled up. "That's one group Captain. Let's get up to speed again and head for the second." He received a muttered affirmative before the ship lunged around and the sails were loosed.

"Harry!" He turned to face Matt who was at the communications station at the very stern of the ship, "The Avrilon reports that the Danus has just left Hogsmeade and is heading up the causeway. It'll be in firing range in two minutes."

Harry was about to reply when another call of his name made him tense. Matt's eyes clouded over with pity as they both realised Harry's mistake. Harry turned in time to see Hermione trying to launch himself at him in a hug but before she could Ron grabbed her wrist and swung her back.

"Filthy traitor!" Ron spat at Harry's feet, Harry sighed inwardly, obviously Ron was still Ron, and hadn't bothered to look up exactly what a Danus was or what having one around meant. In that split second Harry once again felt that revelation that he had had on his trip to Kristoshia.

"Ron! Don't be an idiot!" Hermione screeched as she tried to free her self. But Ron only pushed her behind him and in his forced shoved her into Justin and the rest of the group leading to Justin and Hermione falling onto the floor.

"You'll pay you git!" Ron was red with fury and Harry was stunned at the amount of fury in his eyes. Matt moved slightly into a defensive posture.

"Ron, please we don't have time for this at the moment," he didn't get a chance to finish as he was trying to placate his angry friend Ron attacked.

Ron twisted and with a pull of his hand grabbed and stole an Elves knife from an unsuspecting Elf's belt. He twisted back to Harry as the Elf tried to grab at him and leapt forwards knife first. Harry was too shocked to react at this and could only slightly dodge the knife that was aimed at his heart.

It impaled the right side of his chest. He heard Matt call to him both vocally and through the link and felt Matt's anguish through the link just as he felt his own pain. Matt tried to get to Harry but his legs gave out as he felt the pull on his own soul and he fell to his knees and he felt the Captain grab him under his arms to keep him up.

Ron just managed to see his victim fall to the floor before the Elves retaliated. Hermione's scream was the last thing he heard as he looked down in confusion at the arrow tips that protruded from his chest. Blood rose to his mouth as he muttered and coughed.

His last words were barely a whisper unheard by all but Matt and a few Elves over the screams of the sixth years and the thuds of feet hitting the deck as the Guards entered the scene from their stations in the masts.

"For once I'm the better of us Potter." Ron dimly heard his defence professors roar of fury as he fell face first onto the deck. His body and soul dead.

A/N: How evil is that? I think someone mentioned about Hermione and Ron seeing Harry again. Is that a good enough scene for it? I apologise to any of you that love Ron but I don't so that's the story. Please review.

The next two or three chapters is all about the Danus Vs Hogwarts fight, anyone that wants anything particular in the fight please let me know and I will see what I can do.

For anyone that doesn't know the difference between Artillery and Cannons just imagine Cannons as our modern rifles. Can only shoot in direct lines of sight so cant shoot over walls and imagine Artillery as arrows shot in volleys so they can shoot over walls and for much larger ranges. Correct me if I am wrong but I believe modern artillery has a highest range of about one hundred or so miles. That's a long way for something that isn't self propelled. The 'Arty' will definitely be in the next chapter.

Thanks to all my reviewers!


	23. The Danus I

Catcher

A/N; I know a lot about ships and weapons the Navy uses, but very little about British Army so I apologise for the mistakes that I know will be in this chapter. If anyone more knowledgeable about the subject reads this then please send me an email or review to tell me how to correct them. Thanks

Chapter 23; The Danus I

Every Magical Being within a hundred miles felt the surge of Magic and felt the cry of fury that Matt released as his hand had gone to his Staff. On the Burning Wind there was total chaos. Matt was trying to recover from the pull of his bond. He knew it was trying to take some of his own life force in order to stabilise Harry and he willingly gave it across.

As he sat on the floor with Harry's head on his lap he let the medics tend to the wound. It didn't look easy, the knives that the Elves carried were serrated along one edge and Ron had pulled it out just after stabbing it in causing more damage than a normal knife would have.

Captain Pelaty was beside himself with anger. "Drop the lines for the next students. Put these ones in the brig and take the new ones there as soon as they are on deck." He yelled at the Ships Crew. Only a couple of the students tried to resist and were knocked out with a baton.

He turned to look at the blood covered scene, two bodies and his Lord cradling the head of their leader. He looked at a deck hand. "Take the assassins body below," he then grabbed the communication stone, "Avrilon this is Burning Wind, Over!"

A few seconds later a voice came back, the words just audible over the sounds of gunfire. "This is Avrilon, Over!"

"Be advised, command has fallen to myself…Captain Pelaty, please acknowledge, over!"

"Understood, what happened?"

"One of the students attempted to assassinate Our Lord Catcher, and as such neither Lord is capable of taking command at this time. Dip your colours for the time being! What is happening over there?"

Hogwarts Outer Wall

Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagle watched in curiosity as the Avrilon did another quick turn as it reached one end of its patrol route and started heading away, it was then that they saw that the Ensign flying of its Stern, a gold star in a blue background, was dipped so that it flew only three quarters of its usual height.

"Albus, why do you think they have done that?" Minerva asked.

"As far as I know it is a Muggle Tradition, it must have come from the Elves if they are doing it," He answered pondering the implications, "It is done if someone of importance has died, for them to have done it know means that someone they think is important is dead or severely wounded. One of their Lords I would assume."

"You don't think Harry is hurt do you?" She sounded extremely worried, "How? We can see the Danus, who else could hurt him so?"

"I fear that it is one of us, my dear Minerva, I can think of no other. I would know if Tom had returned."

Before either could say more they heard the sounds of Explosions and turned to the inferno of flames that had erupted around the end of the path in front of them.

"At least the Elves are still willing to fight for us." Albus said trying to keep the emotion from his voice.

Apache 181

The radio crackled in his ear, easy audible over the gunfire trying to block the target as he hovered hidden and silent, his Apache Helicopter upgraded with silent rotors and engine, easily one of the most dangerous weapons in modern warfare.

"181! Engage target from maximum range! Full arsenal! Out"

Major Tom Dale pulled up on the Rotor controls as the voice cut out, he had his orders. His Apache leapt up over the rise in the hills and he hesitated for only a second so his radar could sort out the new targets and discard the friendlies.

On his Heads-Up-Display one red triangle stood barely moving contrasted by the many green circles that marked the infantry trying to slow the progress of this man. He saw through his screen the weapons shots as they had barely more effect than slowing the target as he built a wall of light to deflect the small lead bullets.

His hesitation over he fired his weapons, he did as orders said and fired his whole stock of ten Hellfires off of his rack. His Apache shuddered as the missile launched.

Once he knew all the rockets were launched he banked hard to the left and towards the Castle so that his target couldn't work out his position and send anything back at him. He loved his Apache and had no wish to lose it or his life.

Meanwhile on the path the Infantry fell back as they heard the order in their ears and grinned as they saw the pairs of Hellfires coming towards their target. Each lifted slightly so they had higher elevation that made them impossible to dodge as they hit the ground at the Danus's feet. It was taken completely off guard by the attack, concentrating too hard on the hundreds of bullets aimed at it. The first two missiles became fireballs on his shield blasting it to oblivion. The next pair he just managed to dodge by leaping to the side, being caught by the edge of the explosion. And for what seemed like an eternity to the Infantry an inferno raged in front of them as missile upon missile flew into shields and some diverted to the forest.

The men winced as five of their comrades were blown out of their temporary foxhole by a diverted Hellfire.

The inferno raged for a few more seconds before it died out, and smoke filled their senses. A radio next to the commander crackled into life.

"Alpha Company, radio still shows an enemy target, do you have a visual? Over."

The commanding officer peered into the smoke and dirt and tried to see.

"Negative, we cant see anything. Request permission to fall back out of this smoke!" The Captain replied.

"Fall back to Castle Gates!" There was a brief pause. "181, cover infantry in fall back!"

They heard a distant "Roger, Out!" but they were already moving.

Avrilon

Captain Gullen turned to his Executive officer as he saw the infantry pull out.

"Ready the Artillery!" His artillery was ten specially designed cannons down the centre of his ship under the deck that could fire three times the distance of any long range cannon. Five seconds after his order he could here the ports opening on the deck, they slide back to allow the barrels of the ten cannons to be raised so they protruded from the deck. Each was almost ten inches wide and could fire explosive cannon balls.

He turned to the Helmsman, "Change course and settle in cannon range of the Castle Gate."

He turned to the fighting, he could station by the gate so that his normal cannons could fire down the path whilst his Artillery could strike presently.

"Midships Battery ready Sir!" He heard the cry of his gunner.

He could see the Helicopter firing now into the cloud of smoke. He had talked to the Military General of the muggles and new of its Radar. Its guns not slowed or ineffective in the smoke as his own are. The machine gun blaring as it fired at an unseen target. It was evident that the shots hit their target as a silver light glowed fiercely from the smoke.

He turned to his Gunner, "Aim where the path exits the smoke and await my orders!"

He saw the guns alter slightly before turning to the communications device and tapped it once.

"General Granger, this is the Avrilon, we will open fire as soon as the target is sighted." He waited for the acknowledgement before turning back to the smoke. He only had to wait ten second before he knew that the target was only a few steps from the edge of the smoke.

Apache 181

Tom Dale could not see his target but the red triangle on his display showed that his radar did and he fired thousands of uranium tipped rounds at the target. In utter disbelief that his beliefs were torn apart. In a muggle war there was very few things on land that would stand a chance against his Apache and if it was properly equipped he could even take down a plane.

But this single man was still moving, if only a few inches at a time, under a rain of bullets when only a few of the shots could explode a fully armoured tank.

"181, bewared of friendly artillery fire inbound on bearing 030, out!"

He swivelled his Apache forty-five degrees to the left so that his gun fire didn't stop and looked out of the side window. He saw the ship just as the radar 'saw' it and labelled it red. It didn't have clearance as far as his Apache knew. He flipped on his radar control screen and quickly 'safetied' out this new threat so that he didn't shot it. As he watched he saw the deck of the ship cloud over in white smoke.

He remembered the old shows at ruined forts and recognised it as cannon fire. He looked at where his HUD still showed his target to be and was the first person to see the Danus after his Hellfire strike.

He heard the whine of cannon fire and wrenched backwards on the stick as he took his finger off the trigger. His Apache roared backwards away from the track of the artillery. And he watched in satisfaction as he saw the Danus thrown to the side as the explosions of ten cannon balls went off around its feet.

The radar showed the Danus stopped moving again in the new cloud of quickly dispersing smoke. He decided to be the eyes of the task force and clicked on his microphone.

"Target is not moving, repeat target is not moving! Over."

"Roger 181, maintain position."

Oh, how he hated that order. Sit and get shot at it meant. He saw the triangle move again and radioed in that it was on the move at the same time as opening fire with shot ten shot blasts to conserve his ammunition.

By the time he had shot a fifth time the Danus was out of the smoke, a circle flashed to his left on his HUD to warn him of artillery fire and his slight glance to check he was clear was all the Danus needed to recover from the onslaught of bullets. Tom Dale looked back at his target to see it unmoving and looking straight at him, he shivered at the enraged look in the man's face. The Danus raised his hand out towards the Apache and Tom saw a ripple in the air.

"Damn!" Tom swore as he jerked his stick towards him and to the right as well as hitting his hand against the rotor controls.

The Apache leapt to his command and shot upwards as the engine roared, powering over the silencers, and also spun to the right and backwards. He jerked the stick to the left to regain control and eased off the power as he spun his airship back to face the enemy.

In the confusion that had occurred the Danus had taken its chance. It had spun invisibility over itself and was lost to the radar systems.

"Target lost, I repeat target lost, switching to infrared camera." He said down the radio as he backed off from where he thought the target was. He heard another set of roars and realised his evasive manoeuvre had put him in the firing line. He abandoned finding the target and spun up and over the path to get clear of the blasts.

He had always prided himself over his quick eye and he just noticed the slight ripple in the air before his helicopter smacked upwards and it was impacted from below. He easily got control over it again as he thanks the Wizards that had coated the bottom of his Apache with spell to stop small attack but knew if he was hit again he might not be so lucky. He could see that his engine temperature had risen slightly but not enough to warrant abandoning his job.

He turned the aircraft to the left as the artillery struck the ground where the Danus should be, and switched to infrared camera and was rewarded by a figure of red and orange dead ahead, twenty metre further along the path then where the artillery was striking.

He decided he needed to inform the ship.

"Avrilon, this is Apache 181, drop forty and fire!" It was a few seconds before the artillery fired again and as it hit he changed his position so that he was constantly forty or so metres in front and to the side of the Danus, and fired a series of bursts from the cannon blind. His shots were less effective as they didn't have the radar to ensure that they hit but the tracers in with the rounds showed the Avrilon where the Danus was.

"181, this is field control, continue present actions but do not go within one hundred metres of the Castle Wall. Beware of low cannon fire in one hundred metres and Magical ordinance soon after that."

"Roger will pull out and take position on the targets nine in seven hundred metres. Out."

Hogwarts Outer Wall

Albus could see the Muggle Helicopter throwing its rounds at the ground, kicking up plumps of dirt and sand. And the almost ineffective artillery hitting the ground almost eight hundred metres away from them. The Aurors where now in place along the walls along with most of the Muggle Infantry spaced within them. Another few hundred metres was all that the Danus had to move before they could fire on it.

"Minerva, close the Gate!" All of the Infantry that were coming inside were now inside and those remaining outside could be seen heading in.

Minerva pushed a protruding Hogwarts crest into the Battlements and they heard the portcullises and the three gates slam shut. To get through he would have to take down one wooden door, then two iron portcullises with an iron door in the middle before another wooden door. All enchanted to be almost indestructible.

He could hear a few Aurors around him marvelling at the flying machines effectiveness. They had first been surprised when it had suddenly appeared and fired it's weapons before disappearing before they hit and then with the fact it could move with more agility then anything they had ever seen. A surprise to them when their training in Muggle warfare that they had received in the Auror Academy showed the Muggle Military to be ineffective and slow, showing pictures of tanks and slow aircraft.

The Danus was no in range of the Avrilon's normal cannons and twenty shots were fired at maximum range. Albus realised that although the ship was fast and could strike at long distances it was severely outclassed in close combat when it had to resort to normal weapons. It's artillery died off quickly after the Danus moved closer as the creature was to close.

But still with no visible marker it was hard to see what they were shooting at and it was ineffective. Albus himself had tried to disband the creature's invisibility but had come up with nothing that worked. Even a beacon was ineffective. If it got into close range it would be able to do devastation without it being seen.

That's when he saw the Army start to liven up. He heard the orders to fire and watched in amazement, and gasps form the Aurors as six lances of smoke launched from the ground at the front of the lines of Muggles below them.

The Danus was unsurprised though it seemed as the six rockets veered off course seconds after being launched. They seemed to go off course but then changed direction as they started to hurtle towards their target once more. Two crashed into a bright blue shield and two more onto a smaller shield of silver. The last two were only stopped close in but did a good thing regardless.

The invisibility dropped for a couple of seconds as the Danus lost control of himself and they could see him fly backwards onto the floor before he stood and step forwards into invisibility.

"They are Dragon Anti-tank Missiles." Said an Infantry man beside them, "Though not usually used on people they are directed by the firer so can be redirected at any time."

"Excellent." He remarked before returning to the fight in front of them.

He saw the Missiles shot a few more times but each time they fired the teams fell back to stay over the minimum range. It was just as a cry went up that the Danus was too close that a great roar of thunder went off. The ground that the Apache was still marking as where the Danus was turned into chaos as it was covered in explosions. People looked at the Avrilon to find out how it had fired so many cannons all of a sudden and were confused.

"It's the Burning Wind!" A cry went up from the very right group of the Aurors on the wall. Almost every turned to see the Burning Wind settled into the water, its shape blurred by white smoke from her forty-five cannons on her port side. She was halfway through a turn and within seconds they were looking at her starboard side. Many of Aurors on the right flank were forced to cover their ears as the sound of forty-five 18lb culverines firing.

They all looked forwards at the Danus to see that the cloud of dust was kicked up again before it had even settled. But eventually the explosions stopped at the dust clear. Almost three hundred metres away there was a single man crouched on the ground in obvious pain, unable to raise his invisibility again. The might of the Muggle and Elven armies combined had just about managed to bring this creature to its knees.

But to their horror it stood again. Albus sighed, he knew that Harry must have been the one wounded. The Burning Wind, like the Avrilon, had it's Ensign dipped. He only hoped that they could wage this war long enough to get Harry back on his feet.

Albus decided it was time to take this Battle onto a new front. It was time to turn this into a Magical fight. A four way war if you wanted, Albus had to chuckle earning himself a few looks, this really was going to be a war for the record books. The might of three worlds against one man and the person with a copy of Harry Potter's magic was winning.

He watched as another two broadsides erupted on the ground closer this time as the two Elven ships fired and thought. He closed his eyes and concentrated.

Every magical person felt it, a wash of magic and the dirt instantly settled. They could see the man for a second before a broadside hit it. A moment later and the dirt settled not to rise again. At last the Infantry and Aurors could fire. Their target finally visible without the invisibility and dirt to cover it.

A/N; So…what do you think? Next chapter will be all about the Magical part of the battle.

Thanks to; Obsessed-reader, Megumi Muse, Uten, Silver Slytherin, moodyboy66, and ThrainTalonwater.

Uten; Nope, Ron is just dead, I was trying to find a way to make it so that people didn't think he was coming back like Voldemort did and that he wasn't going to healed at the beginning of the next chapter like so many people do. Also I am not too sure about setting Harry up…I am not too good at doing relationships, I'm more of a slash person though. I wouldn't know the first place to start on writing sappy stuff!


	24. The Danus II

Catcher

A/N; Sorry about the long wait!

Chapter 24; The Danus II

Burning Wind

Matt stood beside Harry's bed in the Captains Quarters as and held his hand as Harry crushed it in his own. Harry's strength ebbing in front of Matt as he felt a strong flex of his hand and a pain in his pain as Harry's wild magic burned into his palm.

"There is nothing more to be done, Milord!" The healer spoke confidently as Harry's eyes flashed silver with power and Matt winced again refusing to let go of his friend's hand. "The physical damage is healed almost perfectly leaving only a scar," he was forced to paused and wait out another salvo of cannon fire from further along the ship, "but the Elven knife was tipped with 'Magic Quaker Poison.' If he was anybody else it would kill him but he will make it through but his magic is uncontrollable."

"How long till he regains control?" Matt asked knowing the possible problems that could arise.

"Not today that's for sure, he has a lot of power reserves to sort out and order." The healer look wary.

"Keep working to help centre him, I will be needed above. Good day." He nodded to try to take the spite out of his tone which was only directly at that Weasley git who had dared to try to kill his best friend. He headed towards the exit but was distracted by loud voices in the holding room where the students had been locked up.

Deciding to pay a visit briefly he walked up to the door which was slightly agar and knocked it open with his foot before walking in to a mild ruckus.

The six elves were trying to force back the majority of the students as they tried to get to the door. They were steadily making progress, their sheer numbers working successfully against the highly trained Elven Guards.

"What the hell is the problem?" He yelled over the noise and as the students were caught more surprised as the Elves the latter got the upper hand and shoved the students back rather ungraciously against the far wall from the door. "Report!"

"They refuse to be still Milord, they want to know what is happening!" Called back one of the Elves knowing to not bother looking at the Lord whilst in this situation and keeping his eyes on the students as they got up.

"Stand down men, I will deal with them." Matt ordered, the venom clear enough in his voice and when the Elves looked at him questionably they stared at the barely restrained fury in his eyes. They however were broken from the stare off as another salvo fired and went to stand against the wall either side of the door.

Faced by only one boy the student got back a bit of their arrogance, and an older seventh year got up the nerve to try to question Matt. "Who do you think you are to keep us locked up in here like animals?" He looked like he was about to carry on his tirade when he was interrupted.

"I am the only Lord capable of charge right now because of your idiotic actions." His voiced rose in anger as he spotted the bushy haired girl look up at him. When he spoke again his voice held so much venom that the students couldn't help but cower. "By both of our laws you have committed a crime in Weasley attack on our Lord and my friend Harry Potter and as such you will all pay the price and if you think you are being kept like animals then it is because that is what you are to us right now!"

The same seventh year yelled again. "How dare you talk to us like that?" He and most of the other seventh year students lunged forwards at their Defence Teacher. But before they could reach him or the Elves could react he had acted on instinct and reached for his staff.

He thrust it out horizontally at shoulder height and every student was thrust back so violently that they were left in a daze. It seemed that even with Harry's magic out of control he could still focus it through the staff. He filed that away however for later attention.

"As far as we are concerned we are now at war with anyone associated with Hogwarts and are only fighting this Danus to carry out Lord Catchers orders." He turned to leave but paused at the sound of someone addressing her.

"Please," it was the Granger girl at the front of the floored students, "Professor, we didn't do anything against you?"

He turned away from the girl and spoke loud enough for all present to hear but addressed the Guards. "If any try to escape kill them," As an after thought when he heard the Granger girl draw in breath to speak he added, "If the murderers girlfriend speaks to anyone including her fellow students put an arrow through her heart and she can die like her boyfriend did!"

With those harsh words he swept out of the room and made his way to the deck noticing the silence from the room behind him. On the deck he found the Captain.

"Captain, what's the situation over there?"

"Abysmal Lord Dragon. The Muggles are putting up a better fight against the Danus than the Wizards who actually don't seem to be doing anything whatsoever. The Muggle bird whilst it did a lot earlier can not fight now that the forces are so close together. It will need to end in a duel between the most powerful as your Lordships predicted but with Lord Catcher injured as he is…"

The Captain left the sentence unfinished and Matt understood. "What are you planning on at the moment?" He asked having a vague idea what was probably going through his head.

"The only option left is to put the troops ashore, we have had to stop firing or we would end up taking out our allies."

"They are no longer our allies as of the attempt of Harry, signal the Avrilon to withdraw to a safe distance and move the Burning Wind out of the battle. No Elves are to step foot on ground." He thought for a second as the Captain sent out orders to the communications and the coxswain then continued. "Hoist the alliance breaking pennant."

"What of the Danus Milord," the Captain asked diplomatically, "If we leave the fight then Hogwarts will be overrun, they are not strong enough to fight against something of Lord Catchers power."

Matt held up his hand to forestall the argument. "It will be fought, but with no offence to our own troops intended we can make little difference here. I will have to fight it myself, it has insulted the both of us when it stole Harry's powers and ruined his reputation." With that Matt moved to the stern railings and started to chant.

Hogwarts outer gate

"Albus the ships are doing something!" Minerva interrupted the headmaster as he was issuing orders to the Aurors.

Albus looked up and for the first time in the battle he looked outwardly worried allowing his emotions to get the better of his calm façade in this horrid battle that they were steadily losing.

"Oh my, that is bad." He moved to Minerva's side and studied the ships with a magnification spell. "They are withdrawing from the battle!" He said looking at the Avrilon then turning to the Burning Wind he looked at the signals recognising the pennant that was just being hoisted. "They have withdrawn from the alliance also. We can only hope that they don't decide to start war with us at this time." He added ignoring Minerva's and the surrounding Aurors gasps at the news.

"Is this because of their dipped Ensigns do you think?" Asked the head of the Aurors present at Hogwarts.

"Most likely, I can only imagine that one of our own as been the cause of the loss of one of their leaders." Albus said, his voice ever increasingly sounding older as he surveyed the ships turning and leaving the fight.

"The students?" Minerva came to the same conclusion that the Headmaster had arrived at only seconds before, "I can't believe that any of the students would do anything of the sort Albus!"

"I worry that Mr. Weasley may have lost his control over his emotions and done something against their Lords." He said quieter to just Minerva so as not to give away the fact that they knew about Harry being one of the Lords and he was rewarded by the shocked gasp of 'Harry?' as his headmistresses hands flew to her mouth.

They were interrupted as Albus yelled out a spell in old English and the world glowed a bright blue for a few seconds before all those that had been previously standing on the Gate house found themselves reappearing on the grass of the front lawn near the main entrance. Only two hundred metres in front of them was the remains of the Gate house.

Flames leapt up into the air casting the whole of Hogwarts front into orange and red light and the shadows of the remains of the wall danced across the lawn.

Minerva sent up a blue flair at Albus prompting to order a retreat as another section of the wall exploded into the air sending its Aurors and Army members high into the air already dead from the inferno of explosions that had thrown them into the air.

It was not long before Aurors and Muggle alike were making good the retreat across the lawn and towards the Castle Proper. They were lit by another explosion from the walls which this time caught the edge of the forest and sent tendrils of fire across the edge of the line of trees.

Albus looked out in despair as another and another section of the now unmanned walls was blown apart in front of him. He felt his age truly for the first time in so many years as he watched this one person who seemed so immortal starting to destroy his beloved castle. He could no longer think of anything that could help prevent it especially if Harry had been so injured that he had yet shown himself in this fight.

Then he saw it a small silhouette against the back drop of furious flames. Unbelievably small against its wake of destruction. He heard the orders start to ring out to both his sides and he himself pulled his wand from his robes and pointed it at the enemy ready to put his all into this last fight, even if he thought it was starting to seem fruitless no matter what they tried.

He heard two hollow sounds to his left and right and suddenly the fading light over the lawn was lightened by bright white light from two Muggle flares. With the ominous light of the burning wall dulled by this new light the figure was clearer only one hundred and fifty metres or so from him.

He shot his head up and he saw the lights flicker several times and could just about make out several large shapes flickering against the flares.

Burning Wind (five minutes previously)

With no exception every person on the Burning Wind was stunned into silence by the amount of Magic that they felt spiralling outwards from someone on the ship. The people below deck just paused as they felt the magic flowing around the air and up through the ceiling, the students who had begun to mutter between themselves stopped to look at the reactions of their Elven guards, the only one of them who might have had any idea knew better then to speak if she didn't want to get the same fate as her boyfriend.

On the deck the cleaning of the deck cannons after their use stopped as they all felt a breeze blowing their tamed hair across their eyes as the magic spiralled towards the back of the ship.

Matt seemed unfazed as he used Harry total control over magic to spiral Magic into him to supplement the core that Matt and Harry shared. He continued his chant as he called for every dragon he had under his command. He flung his staff and fist into the air and five lights flew into the air in a spiral to disappear into the sky.

Matt recovered from the shock of seeing a fifth summon when he had only had the training for the first four. He looked at the Captain, "Regroup and prepare for other orders. If I don't return moor at the Muggle Base until Harry is fit to give you your orders."

He was half way around when every gasped as the Gate house exploded into flames, he concentrated on identifying the fifth summon but heard the report from the look out who said that the Danus had got close enough to the Gate House in the fighting to blow up the Gate house but he could see a group escaping to the main entrance. He vaguely kept an eye on the burning walls and the evacuating people he slowly lost sight of through the gathering clouds of smoke.

He knew that his Dragons were circling above him just above the smoke waiting for his orders. He called to the new one knowing that the only reason he had never been able to summon the Grey Dragon or any of the higher ones was because he had to gain their allegiance rather then just having the power to summon them.

Even as he finished that thought a beautiful Grey coloured Dragon broke through the growing black cloud and flew gracefully towards him. It held out its twenty foot wing span and effortlessly kept itself aloft with only a few motions of its wings and spoke into Matt's mind.

"You have proven yourself to be worthy of my loyalty. By fighting to save those that have betrayed your bonded. I am Kalia, the first of the higher great Dragons. You may ride me into battle."

Matt didn't say anymore, he just used the railing as a boost and jumped onto the base of Kalia's left wing as she spun around and settled himself just above the wings so his legs could wrap around securely. With a few mighty sweeps of her wings she launched the both of them into the air and for a second Matt was surrounded in thick smoke before they broke through and met up with the other four Dragons. The lesser Great Dragons made up of the Blue, Green, Red and Brown turned towards the school building.

Matt saw the two flares burst into life and got a glimpse of the Danus strolling towards the defence lines of the remaining brave warriors.

"Master, the Muggle light impedes our vision; it is neither bright enough nor dark enough to see the Danus clearly." Kalia's voice entered Matt's head.

Matt concentrated whilst he ordered two of the dragons to deal with it just as he passed below one of the flares. His dragons were only circling at the moment until they could attack at their best. He found himself longing for Harry to be seated with him, he had only known him for less than a year and didn't think he could do this alone. He would in essence be facing Harry. This Harry had all of his memories excluding that of the time spent in the Elven Realm.

'_Calm yourself mate, it is almost like me, you know my weaknesses, and you know what my Magic can do. And no matter what you might think in that head don't forget you can't get rid of me that easily. I still can't fight but I can see through your eyes. Say hello to Kalia for me and good luck.'_

He came back and quietly relayed the message to Kalia and received a slight nod in reply. He inclined his head to see the Brown and Red Dragons swallow the two flares which spluttered out in their mouths. He vaguely heard the cries from below at the sudden darkness but ordered the five dragons to send their breath attacks at the Danus.

The precise blast of intense infernos shot from the four lesser Great Dragons hit the Danus when it was unsuspecting. Unknown to Matt that strike did more then every other strike that had been made so far.

Matt got a clear look at the Danus when the fire died down, he could see it crouched onto the ground in pain making obviously laboured breaths. "Hit it while it's down Kalia!" He said into Kalia's ear as she banked around to face the Danus. She collapsed her wings and folded them back against her sides and fell at the Danus. When she was just twenty metres from the ground she breathed out a cloud of ice sparkles that gripped the Danus in a thin coating of ice that held it in place.

Matt could just make out the steam that came off of it from where the creature had been burnt by the inferno but didn't have time to ponder it as Kalia used the opportunity of the Danus' trapped state to fan out her wings and grab at the creature with her six inch talons.

She left her talons in it as she flapped her wings to gain altitude and Matt noticed the Danus breaking out of its ice coating and build up its magic. He gripped his staff and pulled the magic to him and threw it downwards to counter the sheer amount of power thrown up at the belly of Kalia.

From below the clash of magic was a magnificent circle of light as it flashed out horizontally but everyone below covered their eyes to shield them from harm at the sudden light in the darkness.

Above Kalia had got to the height she intended none the worse off form the attack as her Master shielded her from the creatures magical attacks. She let her talons open but not enough to allow the creature to drop easily.

Matt could hear the flesh tearing as the talons took chunks off of the Danus' shoulders as it fell.

The Danus quickly used magic to slow its fall and Matt ordered the dragons to make physical attacks to kill it. The sheer power of the Dragons physical attacks should be enough to tear it apart. If not then it would be torn apart enough for Matt to go in and kill it hand to hand.

He watched as the four Dragons took goes at attacking the Danus. Both with their teeth and talons taking their opportunity to favour their stronger physical attacks to their breath strikes.

The Blue and Green Dragons both attacked with their talons ripping huge chunks out of the creature as they threw it around like a piece of meat. As they passed the Brown Dragon took a turn and grabbed at the Danus with its teeth and ripped another chunk from it. It was the red that took the last shot before it hit the ground and slammed the Danus into the ground as it took off one of its arms.

The creature just shrugged to stand in its bloody state. Matt almost smirked. "Take its head off Kalia!" The body of the Grey Dragon slammed into the ground before the Danus could stand and Matt clung to its neck as she waited for the creature to stand.

Just as the Danus got to its feet and met Kalia's raging eyes she darted her head forwards and struck, clamping her jaws around its head and ripped it off in a spray of blood. Angling her head upwards she incinerated the head in an inferno from her primary lung making sure that the enemy was completely dead and that there was no chance that something so evil could ever return to life.

Matt looked down at the body and then at the inferno, he could hear the siren wailing at the base across the lake in the quiet after the battle. He turned to see the approaching Aurors coming towards him and the Muggle moving off to help in the fire fighting. He was amused by the things that both sides worried about. Whilst the Muggle didn't feel that the fight was finished and moved to fight the fire not many of the Wizards decided to help with the effort, choosing instead to complain between themselves of the savagery of the Dragons and how they could be allowed near the children of the school.

This last comment made Matt furious after they had just tried to kill his best friend they now had the nerve to question the species that had saved their children.

"Mr. Solem!" Matt stopped form his checking of the health of his Dragons before turning to take in the Headmaster. He and Minerva were the only Wizards that would approach, knowing the truth about Matt and Harry, the other Wizards took to training their wands at the Dragons.

Matt decided to interrupt the headmaster before he could carry on. "Tell you men that if they fire at my Dragon they will attack the individual!" Albus didn't need to give the message as he knew that his Defence Teacher had spoken loud enough to make sure that everyone heard the warning.

"Mr. Solem," Albus glanced over Matt's shoulder and was forced to meet Kalia's eyes, she knew what had happened to Harry and was ready to defend her Master in case anyone tried the same thing. "Is there any chance of dismissing your Dragons."

"Our alliance is over Headmaster Dumbledore for the attempted murder of Harry James Potter. My Dragons will remain with me until I am off of Hogwarts grounds to insure my safety."

"What happened to Mr. Potter?" Minerva stepped closer and after Kalia flinch to move she gave her permission silently for the women to come closer and settled down on the ground. "Is he alright?"

Hearing the actual worry in the older ladies voice he took pity on her and sighed before answering. "Harry was stabbed by Ron Weasley when we rescued their group from the forest, the Elves followed their orders to protect or avenge their seniors or Lords. He was killed by the Mast Scouts arrows on the spot. As for Harry he is physically fine and conscious as he can talk to me through our bonds but his Magic was poisoned by the Elven blade that Weasley stole and stabbed him with, so his Magic is out of control and in chaos so he is still bed ridden."

"Would it be possible…"

Matt didn't let the man finish. "No Headmaster, Harry will not be coming up to the castle. You don't seem to understand what this means. By Elven Law you and Minerva should be brought to trial for allowing this to happen, we are willing to overlook the two of you but only time will tell if there is to be any future to our alliance. Now if you don't mind I will be going to join Harry."

"For what it is worth, Matthew we are truly sorry about the attack on Harry and I for one hope he is better soon, I would love to come out and talk to him again." Minerva looked near tears but held herself together.

"Harry says that you are welcome to at any time, just send him an owl. Now I must leave your troops are looking close to attempting to kill my Dragons for being 'Dangerous Animals.'" His tone told the two that he knew of the story of Buckbeak.

For effect he yelled the order rather than sent it through the bond he had with the Dragons. "We're leaving Guys!" As the four Lesser Great Dragons spanned out their wings, the Red and Green both sending an Auror across the ground as they caught them across the chests supposedly by accident, and lifted of in a downdraft that outdid the Apache that had long since left the war scene. Matt climbed back onto Kalia and they too kicked off and they five forms flew off over the fire and steam that was the remains of the outer wall.

Albus sighed in defeat, they'd managed to lose one enemy and almost gain another. He started to head back to the castle to get some food sorted out for a late night meal for the Aurors when he remembered the senior students and the fact that his defence teacher had them as prisoners and said nothing about their return.

A/N; I just wanted to thank… … … for putting in their input after last chapter; I just wanted to say that but also for anyone that noticed that also that whilst an Apache can 'paint' a target from infrared Dragon Anti-tank missiles are wire guided and therefore cannot be aided by signatures from the Apache and also the Elves wouldn't have the capable technology. Still I am grateful that someone put in some input.

Thanks for all the reviews…There isn't really anything to respond to but still Thanks!


	25. A Question Of Alliances

Catcher

Chapter 25; A Question of Alliances

Hogwarts

The Headmaster wasn't the only person on Earth to get a formal letter that morning from a Zalot. He was mistaken after reading the message though that it wasn't in fact from the Order of the Zalot like the messenger suggested. But from a single member, more specifically an ex-Hogwarts student.

It had been almost two weeks since the Danus had been destroyed and the two Elven ships had sat in the centre of the lake together and refused to answer to any signals from the shore line. The ships hadn't been without activity however but when a Ministry of Magic boat had gone out to try to talk to them they had got three warning shots and as they hadn't taken the hint they small boat had been sunk without any loss of life.

Albus had begun to become very worried for the students that were still being held captive by the Elves in retaliation for what they called the assassination attempt. The news, all of it, had hit the papers and within hours of the fight they were hundreds of people flocking to Hogwarts from the nearby communities to help put out the resilient fires that the Danus had used and also to start rebuilding. But along with them had been the reporters that had flourished in their imaginations as they filled in the gaps and how the 'saviour', meaning Matt knew the great Harry Potter.

To top it all off Albus himself had been inundated by hundreds of owls pertaining the whereabouts of their fifth, sixth and seventh year children. At least he had been able to give them an answer and had teamed up with Minister Blockestina to inform the public that in accordance to Elven-Wizarding Law still in place from thousands of years ago the Elves actions were above their own modern law and that they were in their right to withhold the students as long as they wished. That didn't stop the owls from coming though.

Albus re-read the letter again. It was written on silver paper and was addressed to himself.

'_To Albus Dumbledore, revered Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,_

_Due to the entrance of several unknown factors into the Alliance of the Light the leaders of all races are to be called to meeting on the new day after the receipt of this letter._

_As I am sure you have or will soon note there will be more than the customary single Wizard as since the creation of the Alliance of the Light by the Creator of Magic it has become obvious that the Wizarding faction of the Alliance has chosen to splinter itself and therefore spokesmen will be presented from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, The British Ministry of Magic and the Magical Governors Ameritus. The details of this choice will be explained at the start of the meeting._

_You are to present yourself on the North shoreline of the Hogwarts Lake at sunrise._

_Yours in Ever Lasting Light_

_Lord Catcher'_

It was with great relief that it became obvious that his young student –Harry- was well enough again after his fight with the youngest Weasley.

He quickly noticed that the Minister also had a similar letter and was making her way from the temporary ministry table were she and a few over officials had been eating lunch.

"What is this Albus?" She asked.

"It is something we have little choice in. Shall we take this up to my office and I will floo-call the Americas."

"After you Headmaster!" She was obviously eager to get the information and the two headed out.

Across the Atlantic Ocean Minister Andrew Palin had received an identical letter except for the addressee at the top, although he had got it in the morning due to the time difference. He was on his way to his office to floo the English Ministry or Albus Dumbledore but as he entered his office he saw his fire turn green and smiled. It seemed he'd been beaten to it.

No head appeared though so he assumed that they wanted him to put his head in. Obviously the Minister and Headmaster were already together and this way would make it easier to talk.

"Good Morning Minister Blockestina, and to you too Headmaster Dumbledore. OR should I be wishing you Good Afternoon. It is still rather early over this side of the planet I am afraid."

"Can we assume that you have also received a letter from Lord Catcher?" Albus asked skipping the rest of the pleasantries.

"I can, I was just on my way to floo-call you myself. Though I have absolutely no idea about any of the information in the letter." The Minister of America said.

"Ah yes, I know only through extensive reading that I did in the time before Grindlewald's War." Albus said, "I can assure you though that we have got to attend it and be extremely polite. I would prefer to explain this in person though Minister, it is not information that I would like to be free knowledge. Maybe if you pack some items Minister Palin and head over here, you are welcome her tonight and then you can accompany us tomorrow."

"That's a wonderful idea, I have so needed a reason to visit you part of the World. Give me three hours to sort thing out here and I will floo over to your office if that is ok with you?"

"Of course, I will have a House Elf show you to your rooms when you arrive." Albus said.

As his head vanished from the fire the English Minister excused her self telling Albus to send a House Elf to find her when Palin arrived.

The following Sunrise

Harry and Matt stood Amidships looking out at the gathering on the shorelines as they slowly got into the launches (small boats). In less then fifteen minutes the boats would be unloading onto his ship. It had been a hectic week to say the least. As well as sending out his Zalot companion with letters to each of the members of the Alliance they had also had to pay a brief visit to the City of Light to pick up a the protocols and history books to do with the Alliance of the Light. He had luckily been able to leave it up to his Zalot to find specific members of the Alliance, mainly the light creatures.

The job that fell squarely on Harry's shoulders was to contact the possible muggle mentions of the Alliance. He had visited the Admiralty in London, the Pentagon in America, the Kremlin in Russia, and the corresponding bases in the NATO lands and finally china in order to find a suitable representative that was fair. In the end three people had been chosen and he himself had collected the chosen few and brought them to Hogwarts the night before.

He was dragged from his thoughts as the boats unloaded. Most of the people had arrived the night before, choosing to fly or travel in under the cover of darkness due to the amount of press and workers around during the day.

The first people to step onboard were The Wizards. "Welcome aboard Albus, Ministers. I know you want to know about the students and rest assured as soon as we go below they will be taken ashore." Harry could clearly see the twinkle in the old mans eyes and knew his own glittered as for once someone had predicted the Headmasters words. The three stood to one side as the next group stepped onboard.

Harry gave the same greeting again, minus the reassurance, to the three Muggles and then to a single House Elf, a Goblin, and finally a dwarf. Then last person Harry stepped forward and hugged. The representative of the Order of the Zalot who Harry noticed got similar gasps from Albus and the British Minister.

"Sorry to blow your cover like this Tonks but it is for good reason, apart from myself you are the only Zalot member from this planet and therefore the best suited to be their representative and the Maesters agree that it is worth more than your spy position." Harry said as he broke from the quick hug.

"That's ok Harry," Tonks grinned and was kind enough to shot a quick sheepish look at the Headmaster, "by the way, you do realise that you owe me for scaring me in the forest that time when your friends scanned our minds right?"

"Ah, um, right," Harry grimaced but changed the subject to cover it, "How about we go and join the others in the meeting room below decks. If you'll all follow me this way." He nodded at the rather large group of ten individuals that represented six of the races.

As Harry stepped down through a hatch in the deck he gave one last order to the Captain to send the students back to the castle. He knew that the group would follow him into the bowels of the ship to the meeting room and was boasted in that assumption that Matt was at the rear of the group so nobody got lost.

They entered a smallish room about fifteen feet by fifteen feet which he knew under normal conditions was a store room that led to the infirmary where they were going next. Around the wall of this room was a long table with quite a few weapons laid out in clusters. Harry turned to allow everyone to collect in this chamber. Once Matt entered and shut the door behind him it locked and Harry spoke.

"This is the Alliance Ante-chamber. No weapons of any kind are permitted into the meeting chamber and that is the law. I would ask you all to place anything that could be used as a weapon onto the tables around you," catching the mistrustful looks around the group he carried on, "Anything that you place onto these tables cannot be touched or removed by any body other than yourself. This applies to everyone."

To prove it he opened his cloak and began to unload his own weapons onto the table beside the larger doors that led to the meeting room. Matt move through the crowd as they started to do the same to place his own weapons beside Harry's.

Harry was glad that nobody made a further fuss over the matter, they would quickly get used to the procedure. No mortal creature had every taken a weapon into an Alliance of the Light council meeting.

"Once through these doors you are to search out your own seats, those with more than one representative for a single race are seated together." Matt took over this part as Harry touched a box beside him on the table and it opened to reveal a group of bracelets. Matt continued, "As you know many of us here do not need a weapon to cause harm, all those that contain inner power must take the bracelet given to you and fix it over your wrist. All it does is bind your ability to use this power for harm whilst you wear it and whilst you cannot take it off whilst inside the room when you leave again it will dissipate."

Harry passed out several of the bracelet. The muggles obviously didn't require them, nor did the dwarfs, but the four Wizards were required to wear them and after a strange look from the two ministers he explained that even if they couldn't actively use their magic wandlessly they had the potential to when distress and the spells detected that potential. Albus gasped slightly as he happily snapped the bracelet on his left wrist, Harry knew why as well; to suddenly lose all of you ability to harness magic without a wand was a distinctly uncomfortable feeling.

Matt, having given up his staff, didn't need a bracelet as he had no useable magic of his own and finally the goblin and the house elf snapped their own bracelets on.

"No that that is out of the way you may enter and find your seats." Harry and Matt turned and the doors swung open for them and they walked in and took their own seats at the far end of the table.

It took all of five minutes for all the newcomers to join those around the room. There was the one table in the middle, designed so that all those that were seated at it were eye to eye.

All ready around the table were a few seated people or perhaps beings was a better term and around the table were several additional members that couldn't take seats.

Harry remained seated as was the rules as he spoke. "Now that we are all here, I will just say Welcome to the first Alliance of the Light meeting in so many thousands of years. I will begin by introducing everyone as I am the only one except maybe Matt here that knows who everyone is, if only by name."

"I am Lord Catcher, Harry James Potter, Order of the Zalot, I speak for myself and am the Leader of these such meetings as is my right as Heir to the Creator of Magic who founded this Alliance in ancient times." He nodded to each person as he spoke about them and they nodded in return or added their own additional pieces of information if Harry had forgotten.

"To my right is Matsue Solem, or just Matt Solem then," he added hastily to light laughter as Matt growled at his full name, "He is the last known survivor of the light on Kristoshia," that comment got a few shocked looks, only from the light creatures however, "he is here for three reasons. He knows details about one of our enemies that the rest of us don't, secondly he is our spokesman from the Dragons or specially the Greater Dragons, and lastly because him and I have a strong bond and therefore he is to stay at my side."

He did the people at the table first but in no particular order.

"Our representatives from the Wizards of Earth are Albus Dumbledore with more title then I care to remember," again slight laughs especially from the recently introduced man. "Minister Alice Blockestina, form the British Ministry of Magic and Minister Andrew Palin of the Magical Governors Ameritus. I am sorry for the early morning that must seem like midnight to you."

"That's ok, I am used to travel and have gotten used to it."

"Our final Witch is Nymphadora Tonks, calm down, just Tonks as she has a lot in common with Matt on that account. She is our spokesperson from the Order of the Zalot and also was the Zalots spy on Earth."

"I am also still completely loyal to the Order of the Phoenix," she said more to the headmaster then anyone else and received an understanding nod in return.

"New to the Alliance is the induction of a Muggle representation and like the Wizards and their split ideas they also have three representatives from different areas of expertise. Dr. Melissa Carten is a theoretical scientist working for the American Military. Admiral Michael Leover of the NATO combined forces and finally Fort Merlin's own General Granger of the British Army."

"We also have Greynor Graniville from the Dwarves city of Antartica, Towky from the House Elf Council and Griplock from the Goblin Confederation." He nodded at the three small being around the table.

"Also here is the Elven representative, Lord Kelvinus." He said no more about the Elder knowing the man like to keep his history to himself.

"Lastly around the table we have the Air Elemental Aeri who is representing the four races of Elementals that reside around this world." She was a ghost like image seated on Harry's left, the only thing stopping people thinking she was a ghost was that her body constantly altered shaped. If a draft blew across the room she would sway with it and she made no sound which is why many of the group that had some with Harry had noticed her seated with them.

"Our last few members are of course those that you see around the room. We have the Centaur Firenze who has been kind enough to represent them for us, and as you can probably guess we have representatives from the Unicorns, Phoenix's, The Leprano, and finally the Leviathans." He had motioned to each of the last four as he spoke; they were the true power of the council after Harry's own command of the Alliance of course. The Unicorn was a larger then normal male and was being kind enough to play perch for the extremely rare Ice Phoenix that sat on the top of his head. The only difference between this Phoenix and the normal breed was that instead of fire there were icicles. Harry could see that Albus was almost bouncing in his seat to meet this wondrous variation of the Phoenix race. The Leprano was just crouched on its own box that served as its seat and looked unblinkingly at Harry, _her_ true form of fire and lightning making an impressive sight among the immortal creatures around the room as she sat like the Sphinx in Egypt.

When Harry had mentioned the Leviathan though almost everyone in the room had been confused, not seeing anything like a snake in the room. At this Harry chuckled and pointed kindle upwards at the ceiling when among the ceiling beams was a forty foot long snake looking creature with fifteen foot long wings clamped along its sides as she curled around the rafters in spirals as her perch. She dipped her head in greeting to Harry when he looked up at her.

"I am afraid being the species they are and not my familiars it is not my place to reveal their names like Albus is allowed to with Fawkes. I apologise for this but it can not be helped. If they wish to tell you their names like they have told me then they will do so when they get to know you."

Albus was shocked, so many creatures of legend. The Dwarf and Unicorn were enough of a shock, but to see the Ice Phoenix's icy shape right next to the lightning and inferno that sheathed the Lepra and then above them the creature that was only myth, a being of storms and water. Myth spoke of them being able to level countries in massive storms and monsoons.

And then there was Harry, recently forced away from being a student and now had the trust and allegiance of the most powerful species of this world. It was truly amazing.

A/N; Sorry if this Chapter is a bit wordy but I really can't help it. What do you think of the Alliance?

Thanks to the reviewers and anyone else that is reading this! I'll just clear up a few things. The Danus is dead or at least this one is, they are a species from another planet so there could be more though this one was powerful enough to copy Harry's power. Someone mentioned that it died too easily but it wasn't as powerful as Harry and even Harry would be hard pressed to conquer what the Danus tried. Plus I wanted to show what skills Matt had. The reason I didn't have Harry fight was because the outcome would have been far too obvious. The Danus copied Harry's powers when he was still at Atlantis and therefore had a block on his powers. So the Danus was far weaker than Harry.

I assure you that there is a massively bigger threat coming. As I mentioned before about the army massing.

As for update, I am trying to update more often but it really hasn't been three months since my last update, but I had been having trouble with my laptop. Rest assured though that is I ever completely lose the will to write this then I will post a note to say so. I have been having a lot of grief over my Lord Of Stone Tower story which has effected the writing of all my story's but I know it is only a few people that think I am crap in writing that story so I will persevere.


	26. Long Deliberations

Catcher

A/N; Someone recently pointed out that I should change my summaries to my stories, and I think that would be a great idea, the only problem is that I royally suck at them. If anyone feels that they are good at them could they write one out for me? None of my summaries need details on anything in the future of stories. Please Please Please!

Chapter 26; Long Deliberations

The Group all shuffled slightly as they settled in for the long run that most knew was coming. Most of the Humans looked nervously up at the rafters from time to time at the great watery snake above them; especially the Muggles but then again they were looking nervously in all directions.

Eventually Harry continued. "This meeting was called for two purposes, to discuss the re-creation of this much needed council and also to explain the captivity of the older students these past few weeks. As we talk they are being escorted to the boats. They would have been released much earlier however they have been extremely uncooperative in they detainment and have many times attempted to attack they Elves that have taken them food."

"Mr. Potter!" This was Minister Blockestina in a rather harsh voice. "You can't expect…" She couldn't continue as the only Elf at the table interrupted her.

"Minister, you are excused as you do not know the rules of this council however proper etiquette should surely tell you that amongst this gathering you should use the proper respect when addressing any member of this body, especially that of the immortals and the Heir of the Council."

He looked to continue but a voice in everyone's head started. For some reason all knew where it originated and looked over at the outer circle and the now standing fiery form of the Lepra. _'Your tone will also not be accepted in this place or for that matter anywhere else in our presence. You will show the proper respect for Lord Catcher as he is the Head of this Council!'_

"Thank you." Harry said audibly to Lord Kelvinus. But also at the same time he sent the same message telepathically to Liedier, the Lepra representative but only for the Immortals to hear. He continued to the whole collection, "The argument is academic in any sense as they should now be on the boats and will be escorted by the Aurors to the Hogwarts infirmary. However the students are banned from these ships or from any of the Alliance of the Light's facilities as of the end of this meeting."

There were nods to this statement by many of the council, especially the Elf.

'_If I may, Lord Catcher, I would like to continue the meeting. May I approach the table.'_

Harry telepathically replied to the Ice Phoenix, _'Of course,'_ he motioned to the table where a small box sat for that purpose.

With a flutter of wings the Ice Phoenix lifted from the back of Firenze and flew over the heads of the seated mortals. A shiver went through the Muggles who were closest to its path at the cold left in its wake.

Harry winced suddenly drawing the attention of the Ice Phoenix and Matt who laid a hand on his arm sympathetically. Harry had been insightful enough to put a dampening effect around the Immortals circle in order to soften the blinding effect of their powerful magic to his Crysti ability but had forgotten that the table had no such ward.

Harry had decided that it was best to keep an eye on the Magic in the room in case of subterfuge of some kind. He already knew through it that the Headmaster had been working at his bracelet so that he could use Legilimancy on him, but was happy to see no well up of Magic in the man. The arrival of the Ice Phoenix on the table had completely blanked out Harry's senses before he could realise his mistake.

'_My deepest apologies, Lord Catcher, I am unused to dealings with those with your abilities.' _The Ice Phoenix said to all.

Harry nodded in return for all, but replied only to the Ice Phoenix. _'Think nothing of it Koarda. As the Wizards have their Magic bound I had almost forgotten that my senses were open. Please continue.'_

Koarda turned to address everyone in the council. _'Times are becoming difficult my friends. A force is building that far out stretches the powers of Voldermort and the Danus. The forces of Kristoshia are collecting on the Southern continent of America. Their forces are being watched by my own and they grow constantly and quickly. We will need to form a complete alliance to destroy this threat. That is why this Council and Alliance must be formed. No party is being forced to join this Alliance but the leader has already been chosen.'_

"I mean no disrespect but wouldn't a more experienced member serve better as leader?" This was from Admiral Leover who was careful to keep his words respectful with a nervous glance at the fires surrounding the Lepra representative.

It was the Leviathan that responded and to the surprise of many it was vocally but washed over everybody like water. "Lord Catcher is the Leader for many reasons, most of which you couldn't understand. First and foremost he is the designated Heir of Magic making him probably the most powerful magic wielder in existence after the Creator of Magic himself. Also he holds this position as he is the Heir of the Creator of this Council and Alliance."

The Muggles and some of the Wizards seemed to not understand this but the Leviathan continued regardless. "He also has the blessing of the Leviathans, Phoenixes, Leprano, Unicorns, and the Elementals. And is a member of the Order of the Zalot, would have been elected by Fawkes, the governor of the Order of the Phoenix as the new leader after the eventual passing of the current leader. He has a knowledge of the Muggle and Wizarding Worlds as well as a high standing in the Elf community. He also holds the friendship of the last remaining member of the Kristoshia Light who happens to be a Dragon Summoner."

"Enough, my friend, their allegiance is their own to give in their own time." Harry ended the speech with the uplifting of his hand. He collected his thoughts before continuing. "We can not defeat this new force easily with the subterfuge of Voldermort on our own door step, so logically the old must be stopped before the new. I need to know what forces we have at our disposal."

"My lesser dragons have already made contact with the hidden Dragon colonies on this world whilst Kalia has been searching for the Bronze and Silver Dragons who are rumoured to be together. If she finds them then I will plan to see them. Till them of course you have my Dragons." Matt spoke to Harry and all knew that he was pledging his support to Harry and the council only.

"The Elementals have already agreed to support the council and will fight alongside their elemental brothers. Fire with the Fire Phoenixes, Water with the Leviathans, Earth with the Dwarf as they have dwelt with each other for so long and Air with the Leprano and the Dragons and by proxy, Lord Catcher and Lord Dragon." Aeri spoke for her race. "The Elemental Cities; Hydra, Hiva, Fierious, and Arious, are at your disposal also but under permission and agreement only."

Harry knew of the Cities from the books in the Elven Libraries. Hydra was a huge underwater city off the coast of the Artic. Hiva, also known as the Dwarven city of Antarctica was where the name implied. Fierious was an underground city far below the Volcanoes of the Fire Ring Islands. Lastly Arious was a floating city high above the Earth hidden by clouds and storms to keep the Populace of the Planet unaware of its existence.

"The Council and I greatly appreciate this gesture and will respect you Cities as we would the City of the Elves or any other."

"Speaking of the Elves," started Lord Kelvinus, "The City of the Elves is open for the use of all Light Beings. We must leave it closed off for the time being against Humans and Dwarfs with the exception of Lord Catcher and Lord Dragon."

Albus being himself inquired as to the exceptions, when the Elementals had been so welcoming to presences in their Cities. Harry answered himself.

"Headmaster Dumbledore, I am sure you remember the death of Ronald Weasley. News of his attempt on my life has caused a lot of strife in the Elves and it nearly got so bad that the Elves threatened to pull out of the Alliance if I hadn't asked them to reconsider. Other than that the City is in an offset World so it would be taxing for continued travel for mortals between these Worlds. As for Lord Dragon and I, we have special permission and reason to travel freely between all Worlds."

Albus was forced to concede the point knowing the risks and power involved in travel between Worlds. The attention turned to the Wizards.

"If the council is willing to aid us in the destruction of Voldermort and this new threat then we of course offer all of our resources to this Council, but command of our troops must be allowed to our own commanders." Palin responded after a brief discussion between them. "Hogwarts will be open to all those in the Alliance as a refuge area and staging area but we ask that the Students are disturbed as little as possible."

"Understandable," Harry nodded then turned to the Muggles.

"We say pretty much the same as our Wizarding kin, though most of our forces are trying to withstand the turmoil that was created by the combining of our worlds. We have several terrorist groups that have broken away and have sworn a repeat of the witch burning era but we are confident that it will soon be resolved. All of our bases are open to Alliance Military Personnel but we ask that civilian visitors are kept to a limited amount. We suggest a merging of Wizarding forces into our bases and ships to provide cover against Wizards which I am sure we agree is needed after the destruction of our Submarine base."

"You may discuss that with the Wizarding Representatives in my Cabin after the meeting." Harry granted.

Tonks was the next one to speak at the table. "Lord Catcher, you are aware personally about the troubles that we are having with our familiars," Harry knew she was talking about the Zalots departure. "We are unable to induct new recruits however many have been told by their Zalots that they are not being left in the near future. I also have been instructed to inform you of the passing of Uric Den Lipstell and Patla Grela. They both have finally died of old age." Tears were seen in her eyes.

At many inquiring glances Harry explained. "Uric Den Lipstell and Patla Greya are two of the founders of the Order of the Zalot. They have been two or the four Maesters for fifteen thousand years, which makes them some of the oldest beings in all the Worlds and have helped to maintain peace on over four hundred policed worlds." Harry saw many eyebrows climb as he told them their ages. "Their deaths are the first of old age in the history of the Order of the Zalot and their deaths are a great loss to the Order and indeed this Council in these troubled times. I ask for a few minutes of reflection for them before Tonks continues."

The Wizards sat in silence along with most over members. However Lord Kelvinus began to sing an Elvish lament in their honour and was soon joined by the Leviathan, Phoenix and Lepra to make a beautiful and unforgettable sound that brought many tears to peoples eyes.

"Due to this loss all of our forces have been recalled, even the spies like me and as such Lord Catcher and I are the only Order of the Zalot members not in Atlanta." Tonks soon continued, "I was there yesterday to discuss matters with the remaining Maesters and they have fully pledged their support but request time to reform their leadership due to the inevitable passing of the last Maesters."

"Very well Tonks." Harry responded, "Please inform them that we are grateful for their contribution and that we will attempt to avoid use of their forces till they can commit them happily."

'_Also please convey our condolences for the loss of Patla and Uric.'_ Koarda spoke to all.

"The Dwarfs will happily aid the council but ask that the Location of the City of Antarctica or Hiva remains the knowledge of only few. We will open our armouries to Alliance forces as well as our Healers and technology."

Harry could only nod before Towky started, "The House Elf Council has decided that this is the best time for our race to return to Kelbatory and as of midnight tonight our race will leave the households that they now reside in. We do not apologise to any inconvenience this may cause to the Wizarding community, however we will remain in the larger place reliant on us and helpful to the Alliance like St. Mungo's and Hogwarts."

Harry almost grinned at the look on the Wizards' faces at this announcement and couldn't help thinking of Hermione's reaction if she ever found out that the House Elves were never truly loyal to the Wizards.

"The Goblins take much the same stand as the House Elves, we will remain at Gringotts as it is our home and life but we will no longer tolerate interference from the Wizards."

"Thank you all" Harry said to Greynor, Towky and Griplock.

He turned finally to the outer circle of the room. Firenze spoke first, "The centaurs we aid where we can but whilst we will agree to a Pact of Non-Aggression with the Wizards we will not agree to a full out Alliance if this council dissolves."

"Understood." Harry nodded respectfully, knowing that that was all he could hope for after the oppression that the Wizards had put onto a lot of races.

'_The Unicorns will aid in the Healing of any brought to our lands and also will collect and protect the children of this school and any others brought to us, however we are not warriors Lord Catcher.'_

"We understand. I will arrange a meeting with the Healers of our combined alliance forces in the near future to discuss an exchange of aid if you will." After receiving a nod he allowed Koarda to settle on his shoulder.

'_The Phoenixes healing powers are known already but we wish not to be only used for that. We have agreed to act as scouts and protectors. Each of you present today are vulnerable due to your positions in this Council and will receive a Fire Phoenix as your familiar who will come to you in the near future. Treat them well or they will be revoked. And remember that they are their own entities and will not like being ill treated. Headmaster, you are an exception as you are already bonded to Fawkes.' _Koarda hopped onto the table. _'If you will have me Lord Catcher I would become your bonded.'_

Harry knew that the last part had been said to him alone and therefore answered to only Koarda, _I would be greatly honoured Koarda, please call me Harry though, I get enough of the Lord thing from the Elves!'_

'_Very well, Harry.' _Koarda said with a small mental laugh and with a jumped landed onto Harry's shoulder again.

Liedier stood again and flared her Fires and Lightning briefly in what was unmistakeably their equivalent of a dog stretching when they wake. She then pull her fires into her to become her Winged Panther form though she kept to bolts of Lightning swirling her to show that she didn't completely trust the humans present as she stared into their eyes. Especially that of the Wizards who had spoken out earlier. _'The Leprano will answer to the call of out brother Lord Catcher, we will remain to protect Hogwarts from Voldermort but will remain in our home in the Elven City. We have recently found this Worlds Leprano and they will gladly join this Alliance as part of our own forces.'_

"That is good to hear, my sister." Harry replied.

Finally the last member spoke in its watery voice. "Our race will of course aid in this effort and will offer anything that you ask if it is our power to give."

"Thank you friend." Harry said. "I think that this meeting has gone on for far too long so we will reconvene in the near future. As is your rights, with the permission of the Captain of any of these ships you are welcome to stay at your leisure however I suggest that the Wizards and the Muggles return to Hogwarts to continue this meeting in respect to your combining of forces.

Harry waited beside Matt as the rest of the group walked out of the meeting room. He could see people collecting weapons in the Ante-Chamber, he remembered to shut off his Crysti ability when he saw the Wizards removing their bracelets and almost like waking up they stretched their magic.

Once gone Harry exited the room with Matt at his side and Koarda still perched on his shoulder. He wandlessly called his and Matt's weapons to them as he felt the bracelet fall from his wrist. He smiled inside knowing the pointlessness off the bracelet on him. As it was a type of Magic he could control it and could have switched off the device at any time with only a flicker of thought or even just called up his magic over it and blasted the thing off of him. He had only worn it to prevent accusations by the three Wizards; he knew Tonks wouldn't have complained. She was over four hundred after all and knew better than to speak out for no reason.

He was snapped from his musings when they reached the Quarter deck. "That went well don't you think Harry?" Matt said.

Before he could answer he heard an Elven sentry shout, "Halt!"

He spun around and saw Tonks trying to get up the stairs to the Quarterdeck but was being held back by two guards who held their sword across her path. "Guards! Let her through!" They complied with Matt's orders instantly but made no apology to Tonks who jumped up the steps as fast as she could.

"Harry!" She almost yelled and ignored the glares of the Elves at addressing Harry by his first name. She quieted slightly and breathed a couple of times as Harry held his hand up to calm her. "I can't contact the Maesters with the device they gave me; they should be expecting my call! I don't see any reason that they wouldn't. Could you open a portal for me, I don't have enough energy left after the portals I had to open yesterday."

Harry was troubled, knowing the Maesters, they should have answered. He turned to an open part of the deck to create his own portal to Atlanta but was shocked to see one grow in front of him.

It spluttered a few times and started to flicker as the magic grew out of control. "It's going to collapse!" Matt whispered. If someone was in it at the moment they would surely be killed if it collapsed and the only ones to really use this method of transportation was the Order of the Zalot. Harry went to work immediately pulling the loss magic back into the spiral of colours and adding more of his own to stabilise the portal. It calmed almost immediately after Harry started and soon two figures were thrown clear of it.

Before Harry could react the Elven Guards had their bows pulled back and arrows in place, ready to kill the intruders at the smallest provocation. They were obviously still wary after Ron's attack.

"Alandria!" He gasped as he recognised the bloodied forms of his mentors, "Valice!" He ran to their sides where they lay on the deck. "Stand down! Get me Healers now!"

The Elves around him snapped alive and went for help. A few knelt by Valice and pulled him over onto his back to see his wounds as he did the same for Alandria.

She'd been cut very badly across her stomach and again on her face. He searched her with magic to see her injuries. The cut on her stomach might kill her but the one on her cheek was only superficial so he ignored it. The problem was her magical exhaustion.

"They're magically exhausted Matt. That's why the portal nearly collapsed." Harry concluded. "Use the staff and give Valice more Magic." He saw out of the corner of his eye Matt going to work as he turned back to Alandria. He started channelling the Magic around him to replenish her reserves. It was lucky he was there or they would probably have died. Koarda landed on her stomach and started to heal her wound and he saw that Vevere, the Unicorn representative, had responded to the call for Healers and had struggled up onto the deck and was gently healing Valice's wounds with a gentle prod of his horn.

His attention went back to Alandria though as he tried to work out what happened. He said at her face and gently touched a finger to the cut on her cheek. It healed under his touch just at the amount of magic in his body. He jumped as her hand snacked up and grabbed his own hand and her eyes snapped open and she stared at him.

"Harry…Help…Atlanta…Kristosh…" She managed to gasp out not able to complete the message.

A/N; As usual thank you to all my reviewers and also I apologise to anyone that found this chapter too wordy…but I needed everyone to know the players in this story.

I'd like to thank everyone that offered their support recently and to let them know that every little word helped! Thank you all.

**Oh yeah! I am having trouble coming up with reasons for the greater Dragons to join Matt. For details about them look at Chapter 24; 'The Danus II,' and in Chapter 16; 'A Dragon's Battle'. I already know how the highest (White) Dragon will come to be, but I need help for the other Bronze, Silver, Black and Gold.**


	27. The Sinking City

Catcher

A/N; I am really, really sorry for the huge delay. What more can I say? I warn you though this chapter has a really bad cliffy at the end. I've finally got a bit of time on my hands though so I should be able to get the next chapters up for the other two stories soon and then the conclusion to this one. As a semi apology I've made this chapter almost twice the length as my average for this story as in instead of 2500 it is 4500! This story is now around 72,500 words!

Chapter 27; The Sinking City

Harry's response had been immediate, at his orders pennants had flown up the aft mast of the Burning Wind to signal the Avrilon that they were to go on Alert and prepare for departure. To his surprise the small motor-torpedo boats based at Fort Merlin hoisted similar flags and Harry could make out that they were planning to answer his call.

Harry wasn't at all surprised when the Wizards made themselves scarce and decided that they would have to be talked into helping in any skirmishes in the future.

Just as the Elvish sails had been set Matt spoke, "Do you want me to recall Kalia?"

"Not right now Matt, she might as well continue her hunt, can you recall the others though, they might come in handy." Harry responded as he saw one of the motor torpedo boats pull up alongside the Burning Wind.

"Sure Harry, I will have them meet us when we exit the portal."

Harry turned and walked down to the midship's railing and caught sight of General Granger on the open bridge of the motor-torpedo boat five feet below his own gunwhales. It was obvious that the man wanted to say something to him so Harry grabbed the railing with one hand and vaulted overboard and landed with a satisfying clunk on the metal deck of the Muggle Boat.

"General," he nodded to the man after he had straightened up and turned to face him, "Did you need something?" As he listened to the response he told Matt to steer the ship towards the rendezvous point through his link and was satisfied when the great wooden ship creaked around away from his current boat.

"Yes, our satellites picked up a fleet of what looks like ships similar to your own converging on a single point in the Atlantic Ocean, we were just about to mention it to you when you hoisted your own Alert Flags so we are going with you. If you would take us with you through the portals. Also HMS Nottingham, HMS Exeter and HMS Kent are stationed off Lands End and if you wish for their aid then we could make a brief detour to there to pick them up and use a portal to take them with us."

Harry was delighted to have the Muggle aid and their information and agreed to take the detour.

"Also two Trident Submarines are in the general vicinity and will make their way there as soon as they can and join in the fight when they reach it."

"Thank you General, have your ships follow the Avrilon through the portal, I will take the Burning Wind to pick up the Destroyers and Frigate." Harry turned sterner briefly, "I assume I do not need to remind you not to under estimate this enemy, they may be slightly more primitive than yourself but they are still powerful and I do not know to what extent they have assimilated the Wizarding population and you have no defence against either their canon fire and any Magic they may have."

"Of course Harry, I will take you words seriously. Instruct the Destroyers to keep out of range but do everything they can."

Harry then turned into his Leprano form, complete with fire and lightning and sprung off from the deck and flew steadily back to the Burning Wind, and explained the change in orders after he had returned to human form.

He turned his attention out across the water as he started to pull magic from around Hogwarts to create the two portals and as he saw two growing discs of black forming he heard a watery voice in his mind.

'_My Lord Catcher, it is I, Caliver. The Leviathans have already responded to the fleet of Kristoshian Ships as we were already watching their coast lines and docks. There are fifteen ships remaining, ranging from twenty gun sloops and fire ships to eighty gun Frigates. There is also a one hundred gun Battleship similar to your own in design.'_ Harry nodded mentally to prompt his Leviathan representative to continue, _'The City of Atlantis is trying to defend itself but its weapons were destroyed early on by a burst of magic that heated the water significantly. We can no longer reach the City's sides as the water burns us. The Sea Dragons however are not hampered and are not being harmed much by enemy fire.'_

Harry had by this point completed the two portals and he lost the connection with Caliver briefly as his own ship passed through the portal and reappeared off the coast of Lands End. They were close enough to shore that he could see locals staring from the cliffs at the Ghost Ship that had just appeared out of a glowing black portal.

"Three Ships on starboard beam!" Came a yell from the mast tops. Harry turned and took in the size of the two Destroyers and the single frigate between them with a grin.

"Signal the Ships that they are to follow us through the next portal and are to keep their distance from the enemy on encountering them."

After he got an affirmative from his signalman he concentrated on his next portal. He knew that the Avrilon would already be in the fight along with the Muggles and Leviathans and didn't want to waste another minute.

'_What of the Atlantians?' _he spoke to Caliver.

'_I think most must be dead my lord. The domes are in flames but their ships are fighting effectively still. They have sunken five of the original twenty ships that sailed here.'_

'_We will be there momentarily.'_

As he said this he lost contact again as the Burning Wind went through the Portal first. As with protocol even as they came out of the portal they were already turning hard to starboard to dodge anything that had been attracted to the portal.

Harry took in the scene and thought of hell. The sky was filled with smoke from the burning ships and the two Domes of the City of Atlantis. Below the black masses of cloud sat a myriad of ships firing canons. He easily counted ten enemy ships before him and another five of their fire ships wrecked against the City's domes.

"Captain! Open fire on their largest ships!" He yelled over the din of cannon fire from the other ships.

A salvo of forty-five cannon balls flew into the air as Harry turned his attention to his allies. They weren't doing to badly, the three Altantian ships were still functioning though many of their sails were ripped and many of the cannons were destroyed. They now mingled with the Muggle boats and the Avrilon and stood their ground.

He saw the Motor-Torpedo boats turn toward the enemy and he noticed ten streams of bubbles leave the five boats bows and speed across through the water. Harry watched as the enemy ships slowly turned hoping to dodge the torpedoes but they were obviously too slow as Harry watched three fifty-cannon ships explode in flames and debris and slowly sink below the water.

"Sir, there is an eighty-cannon and the hundred-cannon ship missing from the fight!" shouted a lookout.

Even as the Elf shouted it Harry heard a volley of over ninety cannon shells being launched from his left. He knew there target even before they struck the side of his ship. The Burning Winds Captain had already issued commands to turn the ship to engage the two that had ambushed them so many of the shots missed them but Harry and Matt had to flatten themselves to the ground as over fifty shells turned the upper deck of the Burning Wind into chaos.

Even as he stood, pulling Matt with him, he heard that revenge had already been dealt. Whilst the enemy ships had been launching their attack on the Burning Wind the three Destroyers had gotten a lock on them and as the cannon balls had hit Harry's ship they had fired.

Harry stared at the explosions on the two ships. The eighty-cannon ship had been utterly destroyed but the hundred-cannon ship still sailed, albeit extremely lopsided. It seemed, Harry thought, that they did have magic protecting at least that ship. Those shell blasts would have utterly destroyed anything that they turned their guns against.

"Signal the Destroyers to engage the larger mass of ships!" He ordered the signalman before turning to the Captain. "Close with that ship, try to take it rather than sink it. We need information on them!"

"Aye, My Lord!" The Captain then turned to issue more orders to crew members.

It was five minutes before they reached the enemy ship, but by then the battle was more or less over. The remainder of the enemy ships had either been sunk or captured. Two had surrendered once a destroyer was too close and seeing as they were almost the same height with no masts it had been a wise decision on the enemy's part. Another two had been captured by a Royal Marine force from HMS Exeter and the other by the Avrilon and its Elvish fighters. Still there were small fights on those two ships.

Just when the Burning Wind was approaching the crippled ship a great cracking sound was heard from Atlantis and to everyone's horror they saw the two ornate domes sink slightly on their pylons before they slips sidewards off of their crippled supports and into the water. Lights began to flash anew inside the domes and sirens could be heard as windows were thrown open on all floors and people were seen either clambering up to the tops or sliding down into the water below them.

Harry shook himself from the scene as he noticed that they were now alongside the enemy Battleship. "All fighters board her, leave the leader to me!" He yelled and the Elvish fighters snapped back to reality from the scene of a dying city in front of them and soon a full scale war was being fought across the deck of the Enemy Ship. Harry turned to Matt as he pulled out his Katana and charged it with Lightning. "Coming Matsue?" He asked with a playful smirk and jumped across to the Enemy Ship to dodge his friend's staff.

The quarter deck of the enemy ship was empty when he landed on it just aft of the helm and his confusion increased as he noticed that the Elves in the waist of the ship were equally alone. He looked around at the bare ship as Matt landed gracefully beside him. He took in the damage done by the shells from the two Destroyers; Exeter and Nottingham, and the Frigate; Kent. Matt whispered his conclusion even as he realised it.

"No dead!" His voice shook slightly with uncertainty and he looked at Matt, "but the fighting we saw?"

Harry immediately opened his Crysti senses and saw the weak shimmering of a dome rising up from the gunwhales. And it clicked.

"A Trap!" He yelled, as he recognised the signature of an illusion. "Return to the ship!" Even as he said it he was pulling all the boarders into the air in a sickening jerk making his order pointless as none of the Elves had a choice in the matter.

The Burning Wind was already bracing its yard to catch the wind and Harry swept his hand down to his right and slightly behind him so it was pointing between the two ships Sterns and then slide his hand forwards and up like a tennis player's front-swing. A blue trail was left dripping behind his hand and the Burning Wind shudder and leaned towards the other ship as a sudden huge current swept the hull away from the enemy's illusion that still showed fighting in the waist.

Even with the quick actions though they had still fallen for the trap and it had slammed shut on them catching their fingers in the metaphorical bear trap. The one hundred gun ship exploded in a fifty metre high fireball and Harry was too slow to erect more than a weak shield. However the damage was done, flames and shrapnel exploded across the deck killing many. Harry's magic acted on its own to protect himself and Matt but the Elves had no such protection. Many were quick enough to dive behind objects that offered a little protection whilst others either threw themselves off the opposite side of the ship or were flung that way by the force of the explosion.

Harry dragged himself to his feet after what felt like an age and in his slightly deafened and blinded state used his Crysti ability to view the area, taking in the bare masts of the Burning Wind devoid of all but two of its yards where the burning remnants of sails burned almost cheerfully. The masts, wreathed as they were by flaming sail debris floating down, were cracked and warped by the blast and the ships ghostly appearance had failed. Harry could hear the ship itself groaning in pain as its magic slowly leaked away.

What really caught Harry's attention though were six fluctuations in the magic around the ship.

"Oh God Matt, look at this!" He didn't have to explain to Matt what he meant, and he felt Matt's mind slide closer to his and could sense Matt looking through his eyes.

"What are they?" He whispered.

"I think they're ships!" Harry said back and saw some of the crew shoot upright around the Quarter deck where they had previously been tending to wounded or recovering themselves. "Six of them!"

"Guns!" Captain 'Lord' Balakay shouted down the ship and not thirty seconds later a muffled respond came back that Harry couldn't make out. Balakay turned to Harry and Matt and winced visibly. "We have twenty guns remaining ready for use. All deck guns and starboard guns are gone. We have ten per deck on port side on the middle and lower deck."

"Where's the rest of the fleet?" Harry asked as he looked around taking in the closing forms of the six ships that had surrounded the Burning Wind. He could see another dome around them but only worked out what it did when he was told that they couldn't see the fleet or for that matter the domes.

"I'm guessing that the fleet can't see us either?" Matt nodded at Harry's question. "Captain? I'm going to destroy their illusions. When I do fire all of the port guns at the nearest ship and send up the distress flares. I don't intend to go without a fight and they have yet to be properly introduced to the Heir of Magic."

After the preparations were complete the net had closed so that the hidden ships were only two hundred and fifty metres away on all sides. Harry saw the signal from the Captain and grabbed hold of the Magic around him and violently wrenched all of it into him. He smirked as he felt numerous Wizards collapse, dead before they hit the deck, as their magic was drained from their bodies and the spells collapsed with it.

Harry then flung his arms outwards and the newly revealed ships were blasted by a huge wave of magic that snapped many a bowsprit and mast and flung many unaware sailors from their decks. He followed the brief trails of red light as four flares were sent into the air and listened as twenty guns below his feet launched iron missiles into the nearest ship.

HMS Kent

HMS Kent was a newly built Type 23 Frigate. As such she weighed just short of 5000 tonnes, was 130 metres long by just over 16 metres wide. Her crew of 185 could make the ship fire against other ships, aircraft and even weapons aimed against her allies, but mostly she was perfect for plucking enemy submarines out of the ocean. Unfortunately most of her anti-ballistics and anti-submarine technology was useless in a battle like this and the only weapons getting a real work out were her close quarters weapons and her 4.5 inch deck gun.

Her Captain, Peter Dowlrey, watched as a three second blast from the HMS Exeter's 20mm Phalanx splintered the masts and rigging of the last fighting enemy ships. The 150 bullets fired in so shorter time managed to completely cripple her ability to sail and therefore fight and he smiled as her ensign was brought down.

The battle was over. He turned to his executive officer, "Assess damage to us, then move to pick up any Atlantian survivors." As an afterthought he continued, "And report to the Burning Wind and General Granger that all enemies are accounted for and that the battle is over."

The ship had barely begun to turn towards the domes along with the other ships when he heard his radar men report that the Burning Wind had disappeared from their radars. The communications officer had not been able to get a link and had asked radar. His reaction made many jump in the bridge.

"Port lookout!" He yelled out the bridge door that led to the open wings to either side. "Find me the Burning Wind!"

Ten seconds later the reply came back "Captain, I can't find it, it was there two minutes ago but all the is over there now is smoke."

The Captain turned back to his Executive officer, "Get me General Granger!"

Not five seconds later the General's response came over the loudspeaker. "This is General Granger, what's the problem Captain Dowlrey?"

Peter responded as soon as the static had cleared knowing that it would automatically transmit anything said in the bridge now. "We've lost contact with the Burning Wind. Our lookouts had her but she's gone now from both radar and sight."

There was a pause where, Peter knew, the General checked his own systems. Then after a few seconds the General's voice came back over the speaker.

"All ships, this is General Granger, All other MTB's are to collect survivors with the Alantian ships, HMS Kent, Exeter and Nottingham are to head for the last known position of the Burning Wind at half speed. HMS Kent, broadcast the last known position of the Burning Wind. Out."

Before they had completed their turn however everyone saw a cluster of ships appear almost five miles away, where they were heading, their radars blanked out as a wave of magic emanated quickly from the cluster and then four flares arced up into the air from the centre. The Kent's lookout brought his binoculars up to his eyes and then passed them to the Captain who had quickly come to his side.

He was astounded by what he saw, six ships surrounding another one, obviously the Burning Wind, what amazed him was the state of the centre ships. Its whole structure was crippled and it listed heavily over to its starboard. But it still fought on as a few cannons fired on its port side into one of the attacking ships, bringing down its main mast. Another blast flew outwards from the Burning Wind which tore apart one of the bows of an attacker which immediately settled by its bows and listed almost 45 degrees to its port. Another had lost both its masts.

He tore his eyes away and yelled over his shoulder even as he heard an order across the radio from the General, "Full speed ahead!" But he couldn't help his regret though, one that he shared with the other captain's as the MTB pulled ahead of the others. They could do nothing, the risk of hitting the Burning Wind was too much, and they couldn't fire at the attackers.

Burning Wind

Harry spared a glance at the fleet as it closed in, he knew they wouldn't fire but hopefully they would scare off the attackers. As soon as Harry's first blast had hit the attackers they had pulled hard over so that the Burning Wind was now surrounded by broadsides. The ships had sheeted out their sails and were now sitting and firing into the Burning Wind. Six ships, four were eighty's and the other two were one-hundreds. Meaning that each collective broadside threw over 240 cannon balls at the already crippled Burning Wind.

But it seemed that their attackers were drawing tired of this action as the two one-hundred gun ships set a few sails and directed their bows inwards towards Harry's ship.

"Stand by to repel boarders!" Captain Balakay shouted and instantly the remaining Elves pulled out swords and knives and went to defensible positions. Some guarded the Quarterdeck and the officers while others move to guard the hatches and new holes to the lower decks. The Captain then turned towards Harry and Matt. "We can not repel the oncoming assault My Lord's, I beg of you to flee to the Avrilon and to safety."

"That's a negative Lord Balakay." Matt answered gently, "We will fight this battle alongside you!" As if to prove himself he lifted his arms to summon his Dragons to him and the Clouds of smoke lightened briefly as he called his Lower Dragons to him.

By the time this was done Harry had convinced the Captain to allow them to stay and turned to look curiously at one of the oncoming Battleships. He started calling errant magic to him but it was becoming more difficult as he had already used the magic of the enemy Wizards and any of the wards on the enemy ships. Also he had already nearly drained the latent magic around him. This would be the last blast to be able to do any real damage so he concentrated it entirely on the nearest enemy ship that was about to come within grappling range and released the energy adding a bit of his own to help it on its way.

Most of the Elves along with Matt were thrown to the deck as the blast impacted the bows of the oncoming Battleship and blasted it apart. The shock must have travelled down the ship as the head on blast splintered the sides of the ships hull. It immediately lost momentum and the bowsprit plunged into the waves as it rapidly sunk under the debris littered Atlantic.

Retaliation was quick in coming though as the two other ships on that side got a clear shot over their sinking comrade and over seventy explosive cannon shells flew across the small gap between them. Harry through out his own magic and created a temporary shield that he shells exploded against. But it caused Harry to become so dizzy that by the time he had cleared his head the ship on the other side was already against its side.

But no people were coming over the sides. A voice however did.

"I am Lord Avastar," Harry saw Matt clench his fist around his staff at this name, and he remembered the name from his sharing of memories with Matt during their stay in the City of Magic. He had opened the gates to one of Kristoshia's Citadels allowing enemy warriors to enter and slaughter tens of thousands either whilst they slept or in the ensuing battle, including Matt's cousins and his mother's sister and brother. The voice continued, "I challenge the Lord Catcher to a duel for the decimation of my fortress in Brazil and the deaths of my Battle Division."

Harry stepped up to the railing, "Explain your demand!" not understanding the accusations.

"We know that it was you that cast the spell that idiot of a spy brought back to my fortress and it killed almost five thousand before I could defeat it. That costing me an additional two thousand troops. My Master was not pleased! And for that I seek retribution!"

Harry smirked; at least he now knew the results of his spell work. "If I win, you and your fleet will vacate this area!"

"Agreed, your death will be enough for me."

Even as this sentence was finished a man vaulted the gap between the ships almost faster then Harry could follow even with his Crysti ability. Harry gasped as the pommel of a broadsword impacted his ribs, shattering a few of his ribs, and causing him to fly backwards across the quarter deck and through the port railings and over the side.

'_Harry!'_ Matt's shout echoed in his head and he instantly shifted into his Black Panther form and with a flick of his wings flew back up other the broken railing to face Avastar again.

'_Matt stay out of this, you'll only forfeit the Duel!_

Avastar moved again, and Harry only just managed to use his front claws to divert to attack, but the blade hit his left wing instead and he yelped in pain. His Leprano side came forwards in retaliation and he managed to get a swipe at Avastar's exposed left side, making a deep gasp in his shoulder before his enemy could back off from the attack.

Harry shifted to his fire form and was happy to note Avastar hesitate in his next attack. He had obviously decided against another frontal attack and instead Harry suddenly found himself facing two fast moving throwing knives that he had to twist his body to avoid.

He dodged the next few attacks but knew that his opponent was too fast for him to defeat in his Leprano form and so he shifted back to his Human form and drew his Katana and attacked as lightning crackled along the blade.

A dance began on the quarterdeck as the Elves watched on helplessly knowing that their lives were at stake. Every time the blades hit together a shot of electricity shot out across the sky and the noise was deafening. They were evenly matched though; Avastar's inhuman speed was enough to counteract Harry's vastly superior skill. Harry had his Crysti abilities open for any hint of deception but wasn't quick enough to stop what happened.

Avastar had withdrawn from the sword fight and they had started to circle each other slowly, and Harry was just starting to pull out his own store of magic when a slight nod from Avastar and then the almost simultaneous cries of the air and also from Matt through the link as he saw the deception. Harry had just started to dive out of the way of whatever the danger was when he felt a sharp pain in his chest and realised that a sharpshooter had shot him. He fell to his knees in pain, and weirdly the first thing he realised was that he had been lucky it had missed his heart, but he knew it had ruptured his right lung.

"Cheat!" He spat out at Avastar covering the deck before him in blood. Before his opponent blurred in front of him. He thought it was just his eyes failing until he felt a tug at his throat and then the deck was rushing up to meet him.

Reviews;

Shade (and numerous others); I've re-posted chapter 18, I didn't realise it had done that, my copy was fine. Must have been something I did when I uploaded it…my apologies! Thanks for pointing it out.

D3571nyBan3; Thanks for the idea, I've got a new one coming out at the beginning of the next chapter which can't accommodate that but I will definitely remember it. Thanks!

James Evans; Thanks a load, that meant a lot to me, since most of my friends were away at uni before and having fun this summer! Cheers mate!

Thanks of course to all my other reviewers. Please review again, it doesn't matter if you review every new chapter, its great to hear from all of you!


	28. Bronze Loyalty

Catcher

A/N; Again sorry for the delay. I'm hoping to start another story soon, and hopefully the variety of ideas will help me write faster, but reviews help to. I'm hoping to start a Charmed/Harry Potter crossover with a Harry-as-a-Whitelighter idea. Any ideas from people would be great, plus as I haven't watched all of the Charmed episodes it will be AU mostly. Please let me know what you think I should put in it!

Chapter 28;

Matt watched in shock as his friend fell to the deck. He felt a horrible pain in his body and soul as he felt Harry's life ebbing away. He was already moving towards Harry when the latter moved to rise again even if he didn't have the energy to do so. Avastar saw it to and raised his sword to deal the killing blow.

Several things happened at once; The few sharpshooters left on the enemy ship fell from their perches as the remaining Elven guards on the Burning Wind dealt their revenge in the form of arrows flying across the space between the ships. Matt's summoned Dragons appeared from a sky painted Blue, Green, Red, Brown and Grey already firing on the closest enemy ships turning their upper decks into a fury of heat and flames. And Avastar's killing blow landed not on Harry's prone body but on Matt's right shoulder as he took the blow for his friend.

Avastar was shocked enough at the sudden appearance of somebody else that the blow wasn't as strong as it should have been however it still sunk into Matt's shoulder by a good three inches. Most importantly though it was long enough for Matt to drive the sharper end of his staff into Avastar's chest thus ending the duel.

Matt had just fallen down beside Harry as the pain from his shoulder made him too dizzy to stand when there was five explosions as the magazines of five of the remaining seven enemy ships exploded as the Dragons flames reached the packed gunpowder charges stored in the cargo bays.

The last of the enemy ships, one eighty-gun and the flagship, spun around as they rushed to set their sails in order to escape the Dragons but they needn't have worried about the Dragons as they were not interested in the pursuit but more of their Masters health. They surrounded the Burning Wind as Kalia settled protectively over Harry and Matt, her wings forming a cocoon around them until the enemy ships were far enough away for the sharpshooters to not be a danger. It was only then that she would allow a lone Elven Healer near them.

His hands glowed over Harry but sorrow filled his voice as he spoke to the Captain.

"Captain! His injuries are too severe! I can't save him."

A silence fell on the quarterdeck as this sunk in, "Lord Dragon?" Commander Pelaty almost whispered.

The healer spun to check the other wounded Lord but he was stopped as a Bronze coloured shield sprung up around him pushing the Healer back across the deck. Kalia pushed up from the deck cracking a few deck boards as she got clear of the ship.

By now the two enemy ships were about a mile away and fleeing fast, the Muggle ships were fast closing on the Burning Wind. Two of the Destroyers were breaking off to pursue the fleeing ships, not wanting any of the people that had destroyed Atlantis to escape, but before they could get a lock and fire at the two ships they both erupted up out of the water, splitters flying in all directions as they were blown apart into pieces no larger than a book. As the refuse cleared the personnel of the Navy fleet could make out two black conning towers breaking the surface as two Submarines made their appearance no more than two miles along the path of the fleeing ships.

No Elf saw this however as their attention was solely on the two dieing Lords on their Quarterdeck, inaccessible due to a mystery bronze coloured shield covering the two.

Matt was standing on a plateau on the side of a huge mountain. Before him spanned a grassy plain almost as far as he could see. In the far distance a mountain range immersed by a wall of dark clouds spread across the horizon. He turned slightly to his right and saw a line of mountains running away from him into the distance. He spun to see the same on his other side. But his attention was drawn to the figure standing by him.

The familiar face of his best friend, his torn and bloodied clothes and the mangled flesh of his chest. Matt stared at his friends wound but then realised he could see the floor behind his friend.

"What…why are you faded?" He whispered out, felling wary of breaking the imposing silence of this place.

Harry lifted his hand to stare at it. "I think its because I'm dying," his voice was weak and even though he was speaking normally it came out no louder than Matt's, "I don't think I have mush time."

"No, you can't die and leave me!" Matt's voice grew louder and as if in response a far away rumble of thunder echoed across the plain from the far off mountains.

"I don't have a choice Matt. We're not in the same reality as our bodies and even if we were I don't have enough magic left in me to heal a wound as bad as this one." His voice was growing weaker as he talked.

"How do you know where we are?" Matt stuttered.

"There's no magic here." Harry said simply but his voice shook. "I think its only our minds that have been brought here, I can still feel the pain in my body even if you can't, that's why I know that your not dying, your body's solid, mines not."

"Please don't talk like that Harry," a tear slid down Matt's face, "you're the only person I have left."

"I know Matt; you don't have to worry about that though." At this point his voice gave out entirely, he stumbled slightly as a wave of pain hit him. Matt felt it too and gasped. Behind the wave of pain there came something else, it soothed Matt's pain with a loving touch and Matt realised it was Harry.

'_Don't fret Matt,' _Harry familiar voice rang clearly in Matt's mind and he realised he had closed his eyes when the pain hit him. He opened them again and cried out in sorrow as he saw that Harry was barely visible, _'I'll always be here, in your mind.'_

Before Matt could ask him what he meant another wave of pain hit him and Matt watched as Harry fell to one knee. Matt moved forward to his side but his hand passed though his shoulder when he tried to grab him.

"Harry?" Matt sobbed.

He didn't get an answer and could only watch as Harry disappeared from sight. He fell to his knees and wiped at the tears in his eyes.

He didn't know how long he lay like that, lost in his anguish. But slowly his anguish turned to righteous anger and suddenly it overwhelmed him and his head shot up.

"HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN!" He shouted into the silence not knowing who he was really talking to and not caring.

"Ah!" he yelled in fright when he realised what he had just yelled right into the face off. He threw himself backwards and the thing in front of him jerked backwards at the unexpected yelling directed at him.

It was a beautiful Bronze coloured Dragon, It was different to any other he had yet seen, it was only just taller them him. It held its head low to stare at Matt as he scrambled back to his feet.

"Huh?" was the only thing that Matt could think to say. He was in a place he knew nothing about, according to Harry he had been separated from his body, and worst of all his best friend had just died. He was too confused to think properly.

He was therefore surprised when the Dragon laughed at him.

'_Well said,'_ its powerful male voice spoke into his own mind, _'to answer your question, as simple as it was, I am Gryat. You became eligible to summon me when you put yourself in danger to save your friend from death. I am the opposite of the Silver Dragon who specialises in Offensive Magic. I have no physical body but instead act through you when you choose to summon me.'_

"How do I become worthy of the Silver Dragon?"

'_Seeing as you have no magic yourself you cannot summon him,' _here he looked pointedly at the Staff that was now hanging from his waist band. _'You must look to another to help.'_

"But Harry's…dead," his voice cracked when he uttered that word, "I let him…die."

He looked into the Dragons deep eyes and could see power behind them as they twinkled in the way that he remembered Harry's Headmaster's eyes had. He felt like he was behind pulled in several directions like he was falling into Gryat's eyes and the abyss that they represented. And suddenly the mountains and the plains faded from view and a Bronze light surrounded him and as he slowly felt the pain of his shoulder returning to him he heard a parting from Gryat.

'_Soon Matsue Solem, soon.'_

A/N; Shocked?

Review please! I'll try to update faster than usual, but I need to update my other stories aswell.


	29. Intercepted

Catcher

Chapter 29; Intercepted

**Quarterdeck of Burning Wind**

Alandria stared in shock as the bronze dome faded from view allowing her senses to focus on her friend and his bonded. What her senses told made her fall to her knees. Valice followed her down in shock as his own senses confirmed that Harry was dead. The healer rushed forward again to heal the cuts and scraps that he had gotten during the fight but there was little else to do; The young Lord's shoulder was completely healed over without leaving so much as a blemish under the shredded shirt.

The Quarterdeck stood in silence as the healer transferred the two prone forms onto stretchers before running his hand down Harry's face to close his eyes. All of the Elves had tears in their eyes, they hated death more than humans because of their extended lives and it hit them hard that the well loved Lord was dead.

It was this scene that the Muggle fleet eventually joined. HMS Kent pulled up beside The Burning Wind and it was then that the Elves noticed how low in the water their Flagship really was and all of the unwounded jumped into action plugging holes and tending the wounded. Valice started yelling for help from the Kent as Alandria was unable to do more then cry over her protégée.

Captain Dowlrey looked in shock at the shattered ship before him. What was once a majestic ship that demanded awe and respect was now riddled with holes and was listing heavily to its starboard side. The worst sight was the red channels of blood as it ran from the deck into the water. He immediately ordered damage control teams over onto the other ship as well as medical evacuation teams and ordered his First Lieutenant to get the Burning Wind lashed to the Kent so that it wouldn't sink.

"Alandria, we need to move Matt to the HMS Kent." Valice spoke softly as he put a hand on his shoulder. Then quieter, "And Harry to."

Alandria sobbed but reluctantly pulled her hands out of Harry pale ones letting them fall to his chest. Four of the Naval personnel moved forwards to lift the stretchers but Valice stopped them. The men understood and moved to clear the way to the jerry rigged lift that ran up the side of the Kent. Valice moved to lift the end of Harry's stretcher and the Captain moved to the other end and together they headed for the other ship. The second in command and one of the Elven Guards carried Matt behind them. Alandria walked beside Harry not wanting to leave his side.

**HMS Kent; One hour later**

Captain Dowlrey watched from the starboard balcony as the ships slowly slipped through the water on their way to Portsmouth. It would take a while at this speed but he was now confident that the Elven Flagship that was lashed tightly to his ships side would make the journey intact, or as intact as the battle had left it.

They had picked up all of the survivors from Atlantis in a pitifully short amount of time and it was a shock to many of the Atlantians to discover that they remainder of their ruling Maesters had perished in the attack, having been main targets for the strike.

General Granger stood to his side quietly gazing at the fleet of combined ships as they slipped through the water. Three Destroyers were in formation with HMS Kent in the centre and slightly behind. The numerous Motor Torpedo Boats were laid out around them with the two submarines running above the water in front of the ships. The Avrilon stood out to the windward side of the fleet matching pace with the three Atlantian Battleships behind it.

They stood in silence for five minutes before they were interrupted by his first lieutenant telling him that Lord Dragon had awoken and was trying to get out of the infirmary.

The Kent was large enough for it to take five minutes more to reach the infirmary and the scene they entered into was chaos. The Naval Doctor and Nurse were crouched in the far corner whilst three Elves – that Dowlrey separated as being one Healer and two Guards distinguished by how many weapons they carried – struggled to keep their Lord on the bed.

Valice suddenly appeared at his shoulder. "He says he wants to see Harry."

"Then let him!" Dowlrey replied.

"It's not that simple, he had an extremely strong bond to Harry and with it suddenly ripped apart he could go crazy. It's your ship he might damage." Valice pointed out calmly before moving forward as he saw one of the Elven Guards thrown back into a wall.

"Let him!" Dowlrey decided after a pause and the chance to study the pained look in the boy's eyes. Valice released the boy's arms and the two Elves stepped back with a bow of their heads. "Take them to the morgue Doctor." He said regretfully as he turned to face the Doctor in the corner of the small room.

The aforementioned Doctor lead the group down the hall and throw a set of swinging doors into a cool room. Several tables stood with body laid on them, sheet covering what was once part of the proud crew of the Burning Wind. On one table the sheet had been pulled back and Alandria had her head on Harry's chest as she cried remembering when they had first met and the shy boy that he had been all that time ago. She looked up at the intrusion and Matt stared into her red eyes before moving to the other side of the bed and placing a hand on both Harry's forehead and chest.

He started muttering under his breath and started to glow Bronze. He had come to a revelation after he had woken from his dream. Harry must have known he was going to die, otherwise he wouldn't have said his goodbyes; the thought of what Harry had said to him brought tears to his eyes once again as he summoned Gryat. The Bronze Dragon said that he would see him soon and had hinted at Harry helping him achieve the Silver Dragon.

'_You worked it out then did you?' _A voice echoed in his head and he felt a highly powerful presence in his mind. _'I'm glad; Atti wouldn't like it if she didn't get her chance.'_

"Who's Atti?" Matt didn't realise he was speaking aloud but he caught everyone's attention.

'_Don't you have something more important to do here rather than chat, he doesn't have a lot of time left before he passes through the Division and then I cant help him.'_

"Please help him, I can't live without him," he whispered aloud again.

'_Very well, just relax and I'll help you.' _Suddenly Matt opened his eyes and was staring at empty black space, around him the air was filled with bright lights of different sizes. Most were no larger then his fist and Gryat beside him in a Dragons shape informed him that they were mundane souls. Some however were larger and tinted with an outer colour; Magical souls and their signature. A few others were there; close to him was several green souls which he guessed were that of Elves that had died in the battle. _'You need to reach out and call Harry to you, sound doesn't travel here and as he is dead you bond is broken in here, you need to release you own soul and hope that he recognised it. I'll do it for you this time but it will drain you quicker so concentrate on what I do so you can do it yourself next time.'_

Matt felt his mind expand outwards as if he was leaving his body behind. '_Do you have a memory he might recognise? If you do picture it all, every detail you can think of and project it out. It's better if it's a happy one.'_

Matt settled on his time in the City of Magic and they times when they had lied in the same bed for nights in a row sharing their memories across the link. Laughing together at the good ones and comforting each other through the bad ones. With it he thought one thought over and over. _'Please Harry, I need you.'_

He watched the souls around him; they darted away as if admitting that they weren't the one he sought. One was moving towards him though, it was the largest one that he could see and it was surrounded by a golden signature. He knew instinctively that it was Harry as it came to settle in front of his face.

Matt stared at its beauty until it darted around in a circle and then around to Matt's shoulder. Matt couldn't decide what was happening until the temperature dropped suddenly around them. _'We've been here too long,'_ Gryat stated blandly.

A figure appeared before them. His shape was blurred and Matt couldn't make out any features of the man's face.

'_I am Death, why have you come here Dragon Summoner.'_

He stuttered a few times after hearing who it was that stood before him. _'I'm here to help my friend.'_

'_Is he all you came for?'_

'_Yes.'_

'_Who is he?'_

'_Harry Potter.' _Matt became confused as to why this mattered.

'_The Heir of Magic? He shouldn't have even died. Yet he is a powerful soul, worth more to me then all these others.'_

'_Please,' _Matt pleaded, _'please let me take him back, I need him.'_

'_Very well, on one condition.' _Death paused, _'You help this soul finish what it is fated for and when the time comes to let him go you do so.'_

Matt couldn't understand the cryptic condition but nodded eagerly.

'_Then you may leave, but remember no soul can enter this place unaided more than three times. On the forth they will be pass straight through the gate and there is no return from there.'_

Matt felt Gryat take control again and then felt his mind return to his body. Dimly he felt Gryat leave him and for the second before he opened his eyes he could see the impression of Death on his eyelids and the cryptic condition echoed in his mind again.

His eyes flew open though when he heard a gasp from below him and felt his left hand rise as Harry sucked in a breath. He took in Harry's fluttering eyelids and buried him head in the nape of Harry's neck and cried out in relief. He felt Harry's arms come up and wrap around his back and pull him onto the table beside him.

Matt felt a part of him being filled again. Harry mind melded back into his and magic flowed through him. Alandria, Valice, and the Elves gasped as they felt magic rush into the room whilst the Muggles only felt the pressure increase and the temperature rise.

'_Harry,' _Matt's mental voice was sobbing, _'Please don't leave me again.'_

'_I'm sorry Matt, I wont leave you, thank you.'_

A/N; I know its soppy etc etc. If you're going to moan about that don't bother reviewing. I didn't want Harry to be a heartless machine and I wanted to show the relationship between Harry and Matt better. Anyway, hope you review because I got a pitiful amount of reviews for the last chapter and I don't see the point in writing this anymore for a measly few reviews. Thanks to the people that did though.


	30. Silver Flames

Catcher

A/N; I'm kinda wingin' this story now, I don't know how I am going to end it. I know what I want to happen in this chapter though, and as soon as I know what will happen in the next then I will write it… any ideas will speed up that process.

This chapter is not slash.

Chapter 30; Silver Flames

**HMS Kent**

Harry woke up in a bed and took in his surroundings, the last things he remembered made little sense to him, he remember a great valley and saying goodbye to Matt before darkness and then a blurry face that resembled Matt with tears once again running down his face but with a small smile.

Now he was in a simply furnished room. From his place on his side he could make out another bed opposite him which was empty though the covers were rumpled as if someone had slept in it, also on the other wall was two doors, one stood open and Harry could just make out a shower. The other door was firmly closed but looked more substantial than the first. Maybe a door to a corridor.

He tensed quickly when he felt a breath on the back of his neck and then more details made themselves clear. He realised that he could feel a body pressed lightly against his back and an arm slung protectively around and up his bare torso. He relaxed when he noted the familiarity of the person and his sense telling him to relax. He snuggled backwards into the friendly arms and almost dozed off whilst waiting for his friend to wake up.

He didn't have to wait long, it wasn't more than half an hour later that he felt the breaths on the back of his neck quicken slightly and the arm around him tighten as Matt woke up. He twisted in his friends arms to face him to see tears creeping at the corner of his eyes. He pulled his friend to him and hug him to him.

"I'm sorry Matt, I didn't want to leave you." He felt tears against his skin as Matt rested his head under his chin. It was another twenty minutes before Matt had calmed enough to talk.

"I brought you back last night and Captain Dowlry assigned us this room. But I had a nightmare about losing my family again and I needed to reassure myself that you were not going to die so I slept with you."

It wasn't the first time that Harry and Matt had woken to find the other wrapped around them. They both had nightmares of their past but Matt's were by far worse.

Matt went on to explain everything that had happened after Harry had died and after he had faded from his mind's reality.

"So we're on HMS Kent now?" Harry asked once he had finished. He heard an affirmative grumble from his neck which was more a vibration felt where Matt was still attached to him than any sound.

"Shall we go have a chat with the Captain?" Harry asked again and got a nod against his chin in response. Harry made to move again but Matt just tightened his arms instead of getting up. Harry tightened his own arms and laid a small kiss to the top of Matt's hair.

Ten minutes later they were standing in the corridor. Harry was once more wearing his full Order of the Zalot battle gear whereas Matt wore an Elvish Battle cloak that he was used to. Harry katana once again hung from his waist and Matt's staff hung from his own.

"Which way?" Matt asked.

"How am I supposed to know? You brought me here." Harry retorted.

"Um… Hey!" He quickly called down the hall as a figure came out of another door further down the hall. "Can you show us how to get to the Quarterdeck?"

Harry took pity on the Lieutenant. "The bridge if you don't mind Lieutenant."

The man snapped himself out of his daze and led them down the corridors and up some stairs. "These ships don't have masts and the controls are normally at the highest part of the ship in the middle rather than at the back." Harry explained to Matt as they walked.

They entered the Bridge to be pointed out onto a Balcony.

"General Granger, Lord Balakay, it is good to see you both." Harry said before turning to the man in Naval Uniform. "Captain Dowlry, I presume. Thank you for your rescue efforts towards The Burning Wind."

"I am sure you would do the same if the situation was reversed, I only wish we could do more to aid in the repairs, but my men are ill-trained for neither the rigging and hull repairs nor the magical repairs required, and although I no little of said repairs myself I must credit the abilities of your Elven Allies in their speed so far." The Muggle Captain responded.

The Elven Lord smiled slightly at the praise and bowed his head to the Muggle in response.

"Has anything major happened in my…" he searched around for the right word as to not set off Matt again, "…absence?"

"Only a meeting between the Muggle Powers to consolidate forces. We are on our way back to the English Channel now to rendezvous with a joint, American, NATO and Russian Naval fleet. Also the American Army and Air force is mobilising and fortifying its southern border in case the Kristoshian forces attempt to invade. I believe the American Magical World is aiding in this effort." General Granger informed them.

"What about the situation with Voldermort?" Harry asked.

It was Captain Dowlry that answered, "A message came for you from an Auror by the name of Tonks, it written in a code though." He handed Harry a slip of paper and they all waited as Harry read it.

"It seems," Harry sighed slightly, "that the English Magical world is more then a little troubled by the idea of merging with their muggle counterparts. It is taking too much time for them to do more than defend their own towns and cities."

"Can they not build up any force to help then?" Asked General Granger.

"They are faced with an enemy on their own grounds. One that has so many agents deep inside their government that the country is almost already under his control. If we expect their help in this fight then we must first take out Voldermort." Matt put in.

"With my abilities it shouldn't be too troublesome taking him out, but its finding him and his forces which are the problem." Harry admitted. "When we reach home then I will track him and attempt to kill him. After that maybe the British Ministry will be in a better position to aid us. Till then we will wait with you so that I can recuperate if that is ok with you."

"Of course." Spoke the Captain of HMS Kent. "I can put you ashore as soon as we are within twenty odd miles of the shore. All of my helicopters are on the Exeter and Nottingham but I can recall one to air lift you."

"That shouldn't be necessary Captain. I can provide myself and Harry with transport." Matt put in. "If that is everything for now I have a request for you Captain."

"Of course, If I can provide it, it is yours."

"I only ask for the use of that cleared area towards the stern."

"The flight deck?" The Captain asked, "Of course, I have no use for it apart from keeping it clear in case of emergency. Can I ask what you intend to use it for?"

"Just an experiment Captain, I don't believe we will do it any damage."

"Of course, do you need any assistance?"

"Maybe a couple of men in case we tire ourselves out, just to carry us back to our rooms." Harry put in getting Matt's idea from what he told him that morning.

It wasn't long before the Captain had left them on the flight deck with two young signalmen from the off watch that had volunteered to help when they had come off duty as they passed the communications room.

"How do you think we're supposed to do this then?" Harry asked his friend.

"I don't really know, Gryat said it was summoned by Magic. Maybe if you completely open yourself to the magic and draw loads of Magic to you it might work."

Harry instantly fell into his Crysti daze and used his ability given to him as Heir of Magic to pull all the Magic in the area to him. He was careful not to affect the Elves around them and noted that there was fifteen squibs in the fleet and also three Leviathans swimming around the front of the three large metal ships.

To Matt who had become sensitive to Magic in his time around Harry noted the magic fizzing in the air across the whole deck and was glad he had asked to use it instead of attempting it in their room. To the two Signalmen it looked like the deck was covered in a huge heat haze. One that was drawing the attention of all of the on-deck men and some of the people on the other ships. From their position on the actual flight deck they could feel tendrils of something semi-substantial tugging at their bodies but in such a way that it seemed to float straight through their clothing without affecting them. It made them shiver even as they felt a slight rise in temperature but they knew that whatever it was, it was not hurting them and that somehow the man in black clothing was pulling it around them so that the heat didn't hurt them.

Then suddenly it disappeared, waves of heat flew up into the air in all directions and dissipated into the sea air. "It's not working Matt!" Harry called out over the roar of the sea and the noise of the engines.

"Try bringing me into it with you. Make it include me as well as you. Is that possible?"

"I don't know, I don't know if it would hurt you."

"Try it Harry, it's not going to work any other way I can think of."

Harry thought for a second, before relenting to Matt's pleading eyes. He turned to the two pale faced Signal men. "Are you two alright, that didn't hurt you at all did it?"

"No Sir, It just felt a bit weird." Matt frowned and asked them to elaborate. They shared a look and the man spoke again. "It felt like we were being striped and searched by hundreds of fingers." He said going slightly red. Neither was much older than Harry and Matt.

"I apologise, it didn't hurt did it?" Harry asked.

"Not really Sir," the other spoke, "It was quite pleasant to be honest." He said going as red as his friend.

"Same here Harry," Matt spoke up quietly. "And you two, stop calling us Sir. We're the same age as you. Sir just sounds daft. It's Harry and Matt."

"Right, we're going to try again, it'll fell the same for you two, different for you Matt." Harry spoke. He waited for the two men to nod and move back a few paces.

Harry fell into his daze again but this time grabbed Matt's hand to make skin contact and started to draw the magic into both of them. He felt Matt weaken against him and moved to hold him up by his waist. To the onlookers the same was happening again but to Matt, he felt like he was everywhere but nowhere all at once.

'_Try searching for a link similar to Gryats.'_ Harry spoke across the link.

'_I've already found one, I'm going to try to shift the link to you as well.'_

Harry felt a connection form and almost instantly felt a power licking across his body and mind as his Crysti vision flared into a vicious silver glare.

The two Signalmen stared as first the fingers other their body vanished and they fell forwards as a sudden wind grabbed at them and pulled them towards the two other men. Just as the were gaining their balance again and silver light erupted from the taller of the two in the centre and flared outwards in waves similar to flames before dying out and sending the two men crumpling onto the deck.

The two men were next to the fallen almost instantly and after checking them over quickly lifted them up gingerly and headed towards the hanger doors. To their surprise they met an Army General there.

They paused to listen to the man. "The Captain sends his compliments and asked me to tell you two that you are off of the duty rooster till these two are recovered. You are to stay with them till then and can call down to the Galley for food and drink when you wish." Before saying more he stepped aside to let them pass.

Within five minutes the two Signalmen were placing their charges on their beds and settling on the end of Harry's bed to chat while they waited for them to awaken.


End file.
